Fairy Tails with a twist
by MWEH
Summary: The old fairy tales we know so well, but with your favorite characters from Fairy Tail and with a slight twist. Can you figure out which fairy tale it is? A collection of multiple chapter stories (I hope, we will have to wait and see what happens). (Rating might be wrong) Jerza, Nalu, Gruvia, Gale, Elfever. 1: Jellal and the armour clad princess
1. Jerza part 1

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

_Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away, a kind but old king ruled with help from his granddaughters, fair but tough and kind. But our story does not begin there._

"Siegrain!" a woman shouted in an extremely unpleasant way.

The young man named Siegrain rose from his position where he had been cleaning the floor and ran up the stairs to his stepmother´s side to see what she wanted.

"Yes?"

"What took you so long?" she complained as she turned around to look at him with her pale, green eyes, full with malice.

He bowed. "I apologize, I came as quickly as possible. You called for me?"

"Yes", she said as she looked away from him to the pile of clothes she had put on the floor. "That needs to be cleaned right away."

"Yes ma´am."

He took all the clothes into his arms and set down the stairs to go to the wash room.

"Hey, Siegrain", a voice called from behind him as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He turned around to face one of his stepbrothers.

"Yes, Natsu?"

"You busy?"

Siegrain looked at the pile of clothes in his arms and waited for Natsu to put the pieces together. Natsu looked like he waited for an answer, but after a while, he followed Siegrain´s gaze and widened his eyes.

"Wow! That´s a lot of clothes!

Siegrain only shrugged. "What did you want Natsu?"

"Well, me and Gray couldn´t decide which rules was supposed to be in the game, so we thought we should ask you which ones are supposed to be used."

"And where´s Gray?" Siegrain asked with an eyebrow raised.

Natsu grinned and was about to answer when he was hit in the back of his head by a furious Gray and knocked to the floor.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU´RE DOING?!" Natsu yelled at his stepbrother Gray.

"THAT´S WHAT I´M SUPPOSED TO ASK YOU! HIT ME FROM BEHIND, YOU COWARD!"

"YOU´RE A WEAKLING FROM FALLING IN ONE STRIKE!"

"YOU HIT ME WITH A BASEBALL-BAT YOU IDIOT!"

"SO WHAT STRIPPER? I WOULDN´T EVEN HAVE BUDGED!"

"IT WAS HOT OUTSIDE!" Gray was quick to defend his missing shirt. "AND YOU WOULDN´T HAVE, FLAME BRAIN? WELL THEN YOU WOULDN´T MIND IF I HIT YOU, WOULD YOU?!"

"Guys, please. Let´s settle this in a reasonable way", Siegrain said as he put the clothes down and pulled Gray off Natsu. "Stop fighting."

"He started it", Natsu mumbled grumpily as he got up from the floor.

"I STARTED IT? I DID? SIEGRAIN LET ME GO SO I CAN BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF THAT ASCH-BRAIN!"

"Gray, calm down!" Siegrain said and pressed him down in a chair. Behind his back, Natsu made faces against Gray, thinking Siegrain didn´t notice, which he of course did. "Natsu, quit that and shut up."

And maybe surprisingly to some, Natsu did so. But both Natsu and Gray respected their stepbrother Siegrain very much and listened to him. He always solved their problems, and the solutions were always so simple they both were surprised they didn´t come up with it themselves. And so, another meddling started, were Siegrain solved his brother´s problems and they then left to have their game, with the rules they had come up with together. Siegrain sighed as he picked up the clothes on the floor and went to wash them before he could finish cleaning the floor and then be free for the rest of the day. Just an ordinary day in the manor that belonged to the beauty Evelyn, where she lived together with her three sons.

_Now when we´ve met the hero, how about we meet the heroine? The brave, beautiful, wise, just, cake-loving (yes, you read right), princess Erza._

Erza sighed as she looked out the window of her room. She observed the grounds outside, observed what soon would be her kingdom. As soon as she was married, she would be crowned queen and rule beside her husband.

"But I don´t want to get married", she whispered as she met her own gaze in the glass in the window.

She then turned away from the window and walked to her bed where she lay down and closed her eyes. She didn´t want to get married, but she would do it anyway for the sake of her kingdom´s future. There was really only one person she could agree to marry. The problem was that he had been missing for years now and no one had seen him since the day he disappeared.  
A blue-haired boy with a scarlet red tattoo and a so sincere smile it always made her heart jump over a beat. He only smiled like that towards her.

"Jellal…" she whispered to herself.

The only one ever who had defeated her in a swordfight.

She suddenly jolted up into a sitting position. "That´s it!"

Instead of holding a ball like her grandfather, the king, proposed, she would have a tournament and the one who could defeat her would be the one she would marry. She flew off her bed and ran out of her room, holding her skirt out of the way as she ran down all the stairs to reach the room where her grandfather would be.

She was about to enter the entertainment-room where he was, when two crossed spears stood in her way.

"King Makarov shall not be disturbed."

Erza glared at them both, sending chills down their spines and they swallowed hard.

"We all know what my grandfather is doing in there, now will you please move your spears before I break them into pieces? This is very important."

The two guards looked at each other. Everyone in the kingdom feared and respected Erza, and these two were no exception. They nodded at each other and the spears were out of her way. Erza swung the doors open, stepping into the room like a storm. Or well, that was her grandfathers reaction as he thought she had come to scold him. He almost dropped his cup of sake, but when he saw her face, he calmed down. She wasn´t angry, but rather excited and he had no idea if he should fear this more or not.

"Gramps, I will not hold a ball."

\- Fear it more, it seems, the old man thought as he almost dropped his cup again.

"I will hold a tournament, and whoever can defeat me will be my husband."

This time, king Makarov really did drop his cup and all sake poured out from it onto the floor.

"WHAT?!"

Erza nodded, excited. "That´s my condition, I won´t care who it is as long as they can beat me."

"B-but, Erza, my child… no one can beat you…" he looked as if he had seen a ghost, and his hand was frozen mid-air, in the position where he had dropped the cup.

"One person has", Erza said.

Now Makarov got a sad look on his face, full of sympathy. "My child…"

"I know he´s gone", Erza said as she smiled a sad smile. "However, that is what I wish. And if no one can beat me… then I´ll hold a ball. However, every man is to participate in the tournament."

"Every man in the kingdom?" Makarov asked a bit troubled.

"Every man", Erza said, even though it troubled her that she at the age of 18 might end up marrying someone as old as her grandfather.

"Let´s make it every man under thirty and over eighteen", king Makarov said as he rubbed his forehead. "I´ll fix this Erza, I´ll make sure you´ll know which day the tournament will be."

"I want to participate from the beginning", Erza said. "That´s the only fair way."

Makarov looked surprised for a moment, but then nodded. "If that´s your wish."

"Thank you, grandfather", Erza said as she bowed and returned to her room.

She didn´t want to get her hopes up, but… but, maybe one of those men would be him. The only person she ever loved.

* * *

**Hello dear readers! This is my new story, hope you liked the first chapter. Yes, the chapters will be very short. All of them. Some are closer to a thousand and some are more like, five-hundred, but I will try to update quite frequently instead.**

**Have you guys figured out which fairy tale this is based on? It´s not that hard actually ;) but the title doesn't really give it away like the others might. But I think you figured it out anyways. It will be very different from the original story and only based on it.  
I will be changing the cover-photo now and then – when the next story begins. And I might re-do the one to this since I didn´t really know the program I used to do the edit – I used it like a year ago but I never knew it especially well and I will ask a friend to help me ^-^**

**Well, that´s all. Thanks for the review, and let me know what you think :)**


	2. Jerza part 2

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

_In three days the word was spread – whoever won the tournament would get to marry princess Erza. The king had reluctantly added that Erza herself would be participating, and this put some fright in a lot of the men in the kingdom. Most doubted that they would be able to beat her, but everyone was to participate none the less._

"Siegrain! Siegrain! Get here immediately!" his stepmother called for him angrily.

He hurried there as fast as possible, but she was in the stables and he was on the farthest end of the second building. Running there as fast as possible, jumping down the stairs even, he arrived after some minutes. She gave him a look that said all and then turned her gaze to her sons in front of her.

"Siegrain, the king will hold a tournament in a couple of days to see who shall marry the princess. The one who beats her shall marry her."

\- Has anyone ever beaten her? Siegrain thought to himself but didn´t say anything.

"And no one deserves to win more than my sons", she said and gave her sons a loving look. "They will therefore train the coming days and then rest in between. You will assist them."

"Alright."

"And we´ll be going to the city tomorrow, picking out armor. So you´ll have to handle everything here."

He nodded. He already did that anyway.

"Good. Train well my boys, I´ll find you a teacher in the meantime."

"Right mom", they said in one mouth.

She left and the boys stood in silence for a moment before Natsu picked up a practice sword in tree.

"Let´s see what you´ve got Gray!"

Gray quickly picked up a similar practice sword and defended himself from Natsu´s attack. He then counterattacked and Siegrain overlooked it for a moment before simply saying: "Stop."

"Why?" Natsu said as he deflected an attack from Gray.

"Because you´re doing it all wrong", Siegrain answered and picked the sword from his hand. "You should hold it like this, firm grip but loose in the wrist. If you clutch it like that you can´t move your hand well enough."

"You sure got it all wrong idiot", Gray taunted but before Natsu had a chance to come with a comeback, Siegrain flicked his wrist and knocked the sword put from Gray´s hand.

"You´re not holding it hard enough", Siegrain said and this time it was Natsu´s time to laugh at his brother.

"Your movements are also sloppy and you leave yourselves completely unguarded."

"How do you know this?" Gray asked.

Siegrain shrugged. "I don´t know. I can´t remember."

"Doesn´t that seem a bit doubtful?" Gray asked.

"Who cares, he knows what he´s talking about", Natsu said and snatched the sword back from Jellal. "How´s the grip now?"

"Better, but your wrist is still too tensed. Think about how you hold your hand when you eat", Siegrain said as he knew that would work on Natsu.

_The preparations were not limited to the Dragbuster´s house-hold. Everywhere around the country men trained. And not only men, but a certain princess was training as well._

Duck, elbow up there, jump, kick...

Erza easily knocked the swords out of the guards´ hands. Once all the guards were defeated, clapping erupted.

"Amazing as always, Erza!"

Erza looked up to her sisters and put her hand at her hip. "It´s not that hard to fight with a sword."

"Juvia believes it is. Juvia could never move like Erza-nee."

The two younger princesses walked down the stairs so they stood at the court opposite of Erza.

"Not dressed like that, no", Erza said seriously, "but in the right armor you would have no trouble."

Lucy laughed. "Relax, Erza. Take a compliment for once."

"But I´m telling you, it´s not that hard", she said and gave her sword to Lucy. "Swing this."

"I can barely hold it!" Lucy gasped.

"Your dress is in the way", Erza said and ripped the arms. "There, easier now, isn´t it?"

Lucy swung the sword rather clumsy. "Easier but not easy. And you could have warned me before tearing my dress. Luckily, this isn´t my favorite but still."

"I know you hate that dress."

"I do, I really do", Lucy sighed. "It´s hard to breath and to move."

"I know", Erza said and took the sword back. In two quick movements, she had cut away the top buttons by the neck and the outmost bottom of the dress.

"That was extremely scary!"

"But you can breath and move now, right?"

Lucy smiled. "Yes. Thank you. Though gramps will get a bit angry at me for my indecency", she laughed, not sounding troubled at all.

"Erza-nee sure is skilled", Juvia said shyly, very impressed.

"Juvia-nee", Lucy added ´nee´ whenever she felt like teasing her Juvia for her formality – the girl even called Lucy with ´san´ sometimes, "is right. You are very skilled. It will be hard for someone to beat you."

And that was what king Makarov had thought too.

\- There will be a ball after all, no one is as skilled as Erza.

That thought was filled with both pride and worry.

* * *

**Okay, so updates won´t be this frequent. I don´t really remember when I updated last time but I was thinking once a week, especially when I go back to school (I´ve been in anpther country for almost thee weeks so I haven´t had any school), and I really need to study to keep up with the others in my class, I don´t want to get behind and get bad grades.  
**

**But I´d love to know what you think of this so far. Is it too slow? Too short? Most chapters will be this short though, but I can make them longer in coming chapters/ next short story.  
**

**I know I got some reads on the last chapter, but so far no one has left me a review. I´d love to know what you guys think so tell me, it doesn´t take long but it´s very important to me!**

**Alright, see you guys soon!^-^**


	3. Jerza part 3

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

_The days left to the tournament drew closer. Men overall of Fiore either trained or prepared themselves for travelling to Magnolia where the castle lay and the tournament would be held. All the lucky men in Magnolia could train into the last however, and that was just what the Dragbuster´s did._

"Natsu! Keep your guard up! And Gray, firmer grip!" Siegrain coached.

The teacher mrs Dragbuster had hired said he couldn´t teach the boys anything, and she had taken this as a sign that they were very talented. The teacher had meant the opposite – that they were a lost cause.

So Siegrain had been the one training his brothers the following days and they had made huge improvements. But he doubted it would be enough to beat the forespoken princess. She went under a couple of nicknames after all – armor clad princess, princess of fighting, he´d even heard the nickname goddess of swords – so he assumed it was wisely to believe she was very talented.

"How are my favorite boys doing?" mrs Dragbuster arrived and disturbed her sons in the training.

\- And they were just getting the hang of it, Siegrain thought bitterly.

"Mom, Siegrain´s really good, you´ll let him participate too, right?" Natsu chirped.

"It´s for all men in the country under thirty after all", Gray was quick to add.

Mrs Dragbuster narrowed her eyes and looked at Siegrain. "Sure. Of course. As you say, it´s for all male´s under thirty. Fair enough, if Siegrain has finished all of his chores for the day he can come too."

"But the tournament begins at ten", Natsu frowned.

Mrs Dragbuster laughed heartedly. "Oh, right, how could I forget? Well, you better work hard tomorrow then, Siegrain."

She then left and the two brothers looked at their stepbrother.

"Sorry, man", Gray said.

"Yeah, we tried."

Siegrain smiled. "I didn´t say I wanted to go, so don´t worry about it."

"But you´re so much better than us", Gray said and Natsu nodded.

"It doesn´t matter", Siegrain smiled at them. "I haven´t trained at all, I don´t need to go."

The boys were silent for a moment before Gray spoke up: "Try to make it. It would…"

"… it would mean a lot to us", Natsu continued where Gray left off.

"And we still need your tips. Or well, Natsu still does."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY STRIPPER?!"

Siegrain sighed. They sure were morons.

\- But they´re still great brothers.

"I´ll try guys. You still have a lot to learn and who knows, it could be fun to try."

"That´s the spirit!"

"I´m all fired up!"

"Let´s get back to training now", Siegrain smiled.

_Training continued for the three brothers and at the castle something similar was going on…_

"Erza, please, we have no need for this…"

"Juvia agrees."

"We can barely hold onto the swords."

"Nonsense, this is valuable to know."

"But we´re not like you!" Lucy said.

"Mom wanted me to teach you one day."

"Mama…?" Lucy whispered.

Erza nodded. "I still remember it. I was training as usual and mom came down to watch me. She brought you two with her, but you were too young to remember. She watched me train and told me that she thought I was talented and she said to me that when you grew up, she wanted me to teach you."

New determination was showing in Lucy´s eyes as she grabbed a sword. "Teach me."

"Teach Juvia too", the bluehaired girl gripped a sword as well.

Erza smiled. "Lucy, loosen your grip a little and relax your wrist – you want the wrist to be flexible. And Juvia, you have to grip harder. When you hold that loose it´s easy to just knock it out of your hand."

Both girls listened to their sister and Erza nodded in approval. "Much better."

Their training continued for one and a half hour. When Erza was done with the girls their ability to move was reduced to almost zero, but their fighting skills had improved enough for them to defend themselves against a decent swordsman for at least five minutes.

"Good work, but you still have a lot to learn. How about the same time again tomorrow? It will be a good warm up for me."

The two younger sisters groaned miserably and fell back, slumped against a wall. They both knew that Erza´s question was more or less a demand – she expected them to be there the following day.

_Indeed, there were busy times right before the tournament to decide the king of Fiore. And an interesting day was sure to be followed._

* * *

**So here I am with an update! It will begin soon... anybody thought about the similiarity in the students flaws in technique when it comes to holding a sword? No? Just me? Oh... Well...**

**So that´s all, the tournament will be starting quite soon, Í think. I don´t remember in which chapter it is (I´m a couple of chapters before at the moment). **

**Let me know what you think by dropping a short review, will you?^-^**


	4. Jerza part 4

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

_The big day of the tournament was finally here. Servants all over Magnolia prepared the leave for their masters. But while this happened, our young hero at Dragbuster´s house had already been up for hours._

Siegrain looked at the list in his hand once again. He had three things left to do, but they were bigger and harder tasks than the previous ones. However, if he worked effectively, he should be able to come with his brothers and cheer for them like they wished he would.

He started to make their breakfast – a big breakfast so they would get enough energy – and then he left the food on the stove as he headed to clean all window- and doorframes. Cleaning two windows, he returned to the stove and made sure it didn´t get burnt, he then headed back to cleaning and then back to the food. This continued until the food was ready. About then the time had come for Natsu to smell the food and ome down. Today he had Gray a couple of steps behind him, but they didn´t fight, meaning Natsu actually had woken Gray up in a normal way. Whatever that meant for them, Siegrain did not know.

The two boys took their seats just in time for Siegrain to finish the last of the food and put it on the table. The three boys ate in silence, the brothers still half-asleep and Siegrain busy thinking of how he would complete his tasks in time for him to leave together with his stepfamily.

After the boys had finished, Siegrain quickly collected the dishes and cleaned them.

"Siegrain, should we get mom so she can eat too?" Natsu asked.

"No need to wake her up to get down here, she´ll only be grumpy then", Gray said. "But we could bring it up to her if it will be easier for you, Siegrain."

Siegrain thought it over. "If you want to, then I won´t have to keep it warm."

The brothers nodded and lifted her plates onto a tray. They then headed upstairs for the master bedroom and their mother. Siegrain cleaned the last of the dishes and then continued with the window- and doorframes.

When the clock struck nine, mrs Dragbuster called up her stepson. Siegrain hurried there and in two minutes, he was standing in front of her.

"Help my boys to get dressed, we´re leaving in twenty five and they need to be as good as done. The heaviest parts will be put on there."

Siegrain nodded and left.

"Natsu, Gray, what are you doing?!"

The two looked up at their stepbrother. "We have some problem", Natsu admitted.

"It´s all his fault", Gray added.

"If you hadn´t…!"

"I don´t care who´s fault it is", Siegrain interrupted. "You can explain later, right now we need to get you out of this and put it on you instead."

The brothers had somehow managed to get stuck in parts of the armor, lying in a mess on the floor. When Siegrain was finished with getting them loose, he still had to clean mrs Dragbusters´ dishes and he only had ten minutes before they were supposed to be leaving. He hurried to get them, unprepared for what would meet him.

_Siegrain was busy with different things than Erza, but she had her hands full too. Doing her chores, putting her hair up and getting into her armor so she wouldn´t be recognized – it had taken her a long time. But the worst part was left._

"Are you crazy, Erza?!" Lucy shrieked.

"Juvia agrees, Erza-nee, we can´t do that."

"Of course we can. It will be good training for you two."

"But it´s madness! And we´ll lose!" Lucy cried out.

"Juvia agrees!"

Erza rolled her eyes. "I said it´s training. You don´t have to win. But having one or two matches can be good for you. It´s a big difference between fighting for real and training. You have to do a bit of both to get well in fighting."

"We have only trained twice!" Lucy reminded her older sister.

"Juvia doesn´t think it´s a good idea."

"And what if we get hurt?" Lucy chirped in. "What will gramps say then? We can´t have him worry."

Erza raised her eyebrows. "I have already talked to him, he thinks it´s a great idea."

Lucy paled up. "B-but I still think it´s terrible!"

Erza smiled calmingly. "Don´t worry, you won´t get hurt. There are judges who make sure that the participants won´t get hurt. When one of the fighters have lost, either by not holding their weapon anymore, or by being threatened to a deadly blow, the other win."

Lucy still looked uncertain, and Juvia stared to the ground, scared.

"You don´t have a choice, it´s already decided and I will help you get into your armors", Erza said and the younger sisters knew that when she used that voice, there was no point in arguing.

Reluctantly, with hanging heads, they followed their sister.

_When the clock struck half past nine, many carts left their mansions and houses to head for the tournament grounds close to the castle. From the Dragbusters´ left a cart too, a cart with one empty seat. _

Siegrain watched as his stepbrothers and stepmother disappeared in the cart. He had been on time, he had finished his chores, but when he had finished helping his brothers and had headed to get his stepmother´s dishes, he had discovered that she had dropped it and there was glass, porslin and food all over the floor and carpet. She had looked like she was really sorry over it, but Siegrain knew she could might as well just have pretended. She had let him stay behind and clean up after all, not saying that it could wait until they came back like she would have had if she had cared.

\- But it doesn´t really matter, ´I wouldn´t have been able to participate without an armor, Siegrain thought. No need to sulk. And you never wanted to do it anyway, he reminded himself.

But words didn´t mean a thing. And Siegrain was sick of always being treated like a servant. It hadn´t always been like that.


	5. Jerza part 5

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

_Siegrain was left alone in the Dragbuster´s smaller mansion, remembering how it once had been. Meanwhile, the remaining members of the household sat in the carriage and rode in silence._

Natsu broke it. "Why didn´t you let him come?"

Mrs Dragbuster blinked, as if surprised he said something. "What, Natsu dear?"

"I asked, why didn´t you let Siegrain come with us?"

Mrs Dragbuster tilted her head, as if she didn´t understand how Natsu could ask her such a question. Gray knew why she did that, she wanted Natsu to feel like he was wrong and stop questioning her. She wanted him to feel like a stupid child. Gray wouldn´t ever admit it to someone, but Natsu wasn´t dumb. He could seem dumb because he didn´t know some things, but Natsu knew what was right and wrong – that was one of the most intelligent abilities one could have.

"Natsu honey, you know he needed to clean it up."

"Why couldn´t it wait? Why did he need to clean up after you?" Natsu started to sound upset, even angry, and Gray gave him a warning glance which he didn´t notice or didn´t care about. "Why didn´t you stay behind yourself and clean it up?!"

Their mother gave Natsu ´the look´ and said slowly and coldly; "Siegrain take care of our house grounds. That´s why he lives with us."

The way she said it Gray knew was because she wanted him to feel stupid and be quiet – that´s why she talked slowly. Normally Natsu would stop by now. But for some reason he didn´t shut up, even though Gray kicked him discretely to make him keep quiet. He shouldn´t say that. But he did it anyways.

"It hasn´t always been like that", he said quietly and their mother got something dangerous in her eyes.

"Enough Natsu."

And this time he kept quiet, but all of them remembered how it had been once, Gray was sure of that.

When Siegrain first had come to their house, their mother had taken him there. He had been found after a storm, and said he couldn´t remember anything. He had already had that tattoo below the eye back then.  
When Siegrain had come, he hadn´t even known his name. Their mother was the one who had named him Siegrain and in the beginning neither Natsu nor Gray had liked him at all. But that was just the first day, before they got to know him and realized that he was a nice guy and a good brother. Because that was what he had been back then, a brother. He had called mrs Dragbuster for ´mom´ just like the other two and they had been raised together, getting the same education and treated the same way – equally loved.  
But after two or three years, things changed. Their mother asked Siegrain to help clean and similiar instead of studying. She had started to treat him colder, and he had eventually stopped to call her ´mom´. He had been transformed into a servant instead of the son he had been before that. And Gray couldn´t understand why. Siegrain was always better than both of them. He was smarter and kinder, he never fought. He calmly found solutions in a civilized way. He had always been like that.

\- Why did mom turn away from Siegrain? He was more or less a genius. Why did she stop to encourage him?

Gray suspected he would never find the answer to this question.

_The tournament was beginning in fifteen minutes, in ten minutes they wouldn´t let in more participants. Having finished cleaning, Siegrain would have been able to make it. If he only had had some way to get there._

Siegrain was looking out the window, in the direction of the tournament.

"It´s probably really boring. And I would only have lost, and that would have been boring too. I wouldn´t even have been able to catch a glimpse of the princess. It would be boring to go there…"

A picture flashed before his eyes. A smiling girl, with red hair. She extended her hand towards him. It only lasted for a second, but Siegrain saw every detail.

"… and amazing."

He sighed deeply. Why couldn´t he just give up? Looking out the window, something caught his eye. He just saw it in the corner of the eye, but it was enough for him to go and check it out. Leaving the second floor and heading out the door, Siegrain set his aim for the where they grew the pumpkins. He didn´t really know what had caught his eye, but he knew he needed to find out what it was.

As he arrived by the plants, he looked around but found nothing. Then he was suddenly blinded by a very bright light close by him.

"Hello there, young man."

* * *

**Sorry for the late update, I had the flu so I didn´t have any energy to update, but it´s realy no excuse since these chapters are pre-written... Expect fewer updates this month - I´m working on a short Christmas Special I hope will be finished before Christamas Day so I´ll be focusing on that.**

**And I don´t really have any motivation to write chapters to this story right now - though you might be able to help me with that. It´s so dark now that I really only wanna be inside anyways...**

**Drop me a review and let me know what you think, will you? I really appreciate it and it won´t take you long. Have a continued nice evening/ night/ day you guys! ^-^**


	6. Jerza part 6

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

_The ground around the tournament was slowly starting to fill. Carriages were parked, horses left bound to drink water__and young men all around prepared themselves for the tournament. Several armor-clad men arrived from the castle grounds, but unknown to the men there were three of them that didn´t quite belong._

"I´m nervous", Lucy whispered.

"Juv- Julian is too, Lucy-Lucien-san."

Juvia sure had to be nervous to call Lucy with ´san´. She usually only did this when she a) wanted something from Lucy, b) was going to say something that would make Lucy sad, or c) when she was so nervous she called everyone with ´san´ or even ´sama´.

"No need to worry", Erza told them. "You´ll be fine."

"Easy for you to say", Lucy muttered. "You´re used to this."

This made Erza laugh. "Pretending to be a man? Yes, I do this every weekend."

That got Juvia to giggle, letting her ease up a bit. Lucy just rolled her eyes.

"You know I didn´t mean that. I was aiming at wearing armor and fighting", Lucy said. "And I can´t understand how you can do this – I´m dying in here!"

Erza and Juvia giggled a bit, but both nodded. "I usually don´t wear all this", Erza explained. "You saw me train the other day after all."

"Oh, right. Ezra-nii always fight in special made armor."

"Exactly", Erza smiled at her baby-sisters. "You´ll do that too eventually."

Lucy shook her head. "You seem to think we´ll do this on regular basis."

Erza smirked. "You will."

Both Juvia and Lucy shivered. They wished she was wrong, but they both knew she probably wasn´t.

\- No matter how you feel now, you´ll like it eventually, Erza thought.

_By now all house-holds around Magnolia were mostly empty. Most of the ones who wouldn´t participate still went to see the tournament. There was betting lead by the well-known Cana Alberona, and the most popular bet was that no one would be able to beat princess Erza. Siegrain however, still had yet to leave._

"Who´s there?" Siegrain asked suspiciously and tried to shadow his eyes.

"Oh, sorry, I forget about the light", a light, feminine voice said and so sudden it almost disturbed Siegrain´s eyes just as much, the light disappeared. In front of him was a small girl, soaring over the ground, her wavy hair flowing behind her. "My name is Mavis and I am the fairy god-mother."

"The fairy-what?" Jellal asked with a frown.

Mavis sighed. "No one knows about it nowadays, but back in… that´s not important and you´re short in time. I´m here to help you."

"Help me?"

"Yes, you have a tournament to attend", Mavis smiled at him. "Are you ready?"

Siegrain nodded slowly.

"Bibbity-bobbity-boo!"

A low ´poff´ was heard and smoke erupted all around him. He coughed and waved around him. Feeling the sudden weight when he moved his arm, Siegrain looked down to find himself in armor.

"What…?"

Mavis laughed happily. "All we need now is a sword and a horse so you can get there. Do you have some animal and something like a long stick?"

"We have no animals and I don´t know what you mean when you say you need a stick", Siegrain said honestly.

Mavis sighed. "This will be harder than I thought… alright, you find a stick or something – it doesn´t have to be anything complicated – and I´ll find an animal."

Siegrain nodded and went inside to the kitchen. He looked around and found a tree ladle. He wasn´t sure it would be any good, but it was the best thing he could come up with. Returning to Mavis, he was surprised to find a big, proud and beautiful mare.

"Isn´t she beautiful?" Mavis smiled. "Well, did you find a stick?" Siegrain showed her the ladle. She sighed seeing it. "It´s not what I hoped for, but it will be enough. Bibbity Boopity Boo!"

Another ´poof´ and smoke, and he was holding a sword instead of the ladle.

"It had been better with something else but…" Mavis grew silent and then smiled. "But that works very well too. Now listen to this, it´s very important. After the clock strikes five, the spell will wear of. I´ve counted on it and the tournament should end before that."

Siegrain nodded, taking the information in.

"Oh, and don´t forget your helmet", Mavis said and threw a small ball at him. Before he got a chance to catch it, she put a spell on it when it was flying in mid-air and Siegrain caught a smoke-erupting, shining helmet. "Now get on that horse and hurry!"

"Thank you Mavis, I won´t ever forget this", Siegrain flashed a smile and then quickly got onto the horse, setting off in a high-speed gallop.

* * *

**A bit short perhaps, but I´ll leave you hanging for a bit. My Christmas story isn´t quite working out - I have such trouble with the Christmas gifts. I have decided what Gray shall give Juvia, Natsu and Lucy, what Lucy shall give Erza, Levy and Gray, and maybe Cana... but honestly my biggest trouble is what Lucy shall give Natsu. I already know what he´ll get for her. Anybody have an idea on what to give Natsu from Lucy? I really hope to finish the story before Christmas you know...**

_An answer to my guest review because I got so happy reading it:_

**I am so sorry to disappoint you... no Jerza yet... the Jerza will take some chapters to come, I´m afraid... In all fairy tales they always rush the love... But I did have a small Jerza moment in last chapter! When he remembered her for a sec. Though... it´s no true moment really... and I think there won´t be much moments... I shall try to get some in though. Thanks for revieing ^-^**

**I have some sad news guys. This is the second last of my pre-written chapters. This always happens when you pre-write chapters. You think you have a lot of them and then BAM! No left. I might see you again before Christmas but if I don´t - Merry Christmas to you all! (and a happy new year!) And I´m serious about the Christmas thing up there - PLEASE HELP!**

**Love and hugs to you because I feel like hugging people and my parents are super sick so I can´t hug them XD**


	7. Jerza part 7

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

_As the tournament was about to begin, the participants prepared themselves. The organizers where running all over the place, panicking over not being done in time. As a man run to collect the entries, he was racing against a young man on horse._

Siegrain pulled lightly on the reins to get the horse to stop in front of the man accepting the entries. The man looked terrified as he had been staring pale-face on the galloping horse.

"Where do I enter the tournament?" Siegrain asked the man. The man pointed to himself and Siegrain jumped down. "I´d like to participate."

The man nodded slowly, the color of his face slowly returning. He picked up a stack of papers and a pen. "Name?"

"Siegrain."

"Last name?"

"Fernandez", Siegrain heard himself say. But before he had a chance to tell the man he had said wrong, the man was already gone, headed to leave the entries in.

\- Why didn´t I say Dragbuster?

Siegrain shook his head as he grabbed the reins of his horse and took her to the cradle with water. By the cradle stood a man and as soon as he saw Siegrain he freaked out and ran up to him.

"What are you doing sir?!"

"I´m letting my horse drink", Siegrain answered calmly.

"No, you must get into the arena! Here, give me the reins and get in! It´s starting, hurry up! You have to get in there! Into the starter´s booth!" he started to push Siegrain into the arena.

"Wait, what..?" before he got to finished the sentence, the reins were taken out of his hands and he was pushed through an entry-way and gripped by another man.

"Hurry up!" he was dragged along.

"Wait, I need to find my brothers!"

"No time, you can do that later. All of the participants have to get out to the fighting grounds so they can tell the rules."

Siegrain followed the man under silence. They were nearing the entrance, but Siegrain was surprised over how big the arena was. They had been going through a windowless corridor with a few doors on the right side since he encountered the man that now was showing Siegrain the way. Siegrain had more or less expected to come right into the arena.

"Alright", the man stopped in front of the line that waited to get out onto the arena grounds. "Get in line, put your helmet on and listen to what we workers tell you."

Siegrain nodded. "Thanks."

The man grunted ever so slightly, but Siegrain saw a smirk on his lips before he turned away and left. Siegrain pulled his helmet on and waited till it was his turn to go out through the port into the arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to Fiore´s big tournament! We´ve sent requests to all men in Fiore between 18 and 30 to come here and take their chance to fight our beautiful, princess Erza for her hand. Give our contestants a warm welcome", a voice called out and cheers and clapping erupted from the audience as the line moved forward and the men entered the tournament grounds.

Siegrain was looking around trying to find his brothers, but noticed that most of the participants had similar looking armor, and participants entered from different ports.

\- I´m not going to find them by just looking… Siegrain thought.

"And now", the same voice as before said, "the king will tell you the rules.

Siegrain had no chance of seeing the king what-so-ever since he was at the far back and a lot of tall men were standing before him, making it impossible to see anything over their heads. But he could hear the elder man. The king first welcomed them all and said he was looking forward to see their skills. He then said they had decided on a tournament due to the fact that the king needed to be a strong and skilled man to protect the kingdom.

\- I have a feeling the king made that reason up…

He then continued to the rules. Siegrain noticed that when the king started to tell them, everyone quieted down, even the mumbles that had been heard before.

"One must not fight with intent to hurt or kill. To win the match, one must either disarm their opponent or put them in a position where they would die or get severely wounded in a real fight. Our referees, Gildarts Clive, Laxus Dreyar and Freed Justine, will decide when this happens", the voice of the king of Fiore spread over the arena powerfully, reaching everyone´s ears. "One must never leave the arena until the fight is over. If one leaves even as a part of the match, one will be disqualified. No looking on other matches is allowed until one has been defeated."

There were a few more, minor rules, but Siegrain knew he wouldn´t break them, even by accident. After the king was finished with the speech, all men but the two starting ones where supposed to leave. A few minutes went before Lyon Vastia was pronounced as the winner. Next fight continued for a while longer, but now in such an early stage, the fights were over quickly.

"Next up is Ezra Titan and Vijeeter Ecor!"

That match was the shortest so far.

* * *

**I´m back with an update sooner than I expected ^-^ It hasn´t been that long since I updated... right?**

**Well, my Christmas special failed to be finished in time, but now I have a whole year until next Christmas to finish it XD**

_Once again, an answer to my guest review Anonymous (you know who you are ;) ) because I love to read your reviews too;_

**I´m so glad you think you´ll like the coming chapters so I just hope I will not disappoint you... Still no meeting for... a couple of chapters. They will meet though. Just not soon. And probably not in a very romanticc way. And probably in disguise...**

**Thank you for reviewing twice XD**

**I have a special plan for Levy but it will take some time. But I think you all will like it... (if you like Gale that is... ;) )**

**And there are no bad ideas :) It´s just not quite what I was looking for and it kinda reminds of what I was planning having Gray give Natsu XD But thanks for suggesting something ^-^**

**And thank you for reviewing, I love your reviews XD**

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**Alrigth, don´t forget to let me know what you think people, you´re my motivation and I mean that every single review motivates me! And I love answering your reviews, reading your answers to me and if you have any questions about the story please ask because I love talking about ideas and possible happenings with you guys ^-^**

**Merry Christmas to you guys (where I live it´s like 1.30 am on Christmas Day so a lot of you are probs gonna celebrate today and I already celebrated like six hours ago)!**

_**AND PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW; IT´S A GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFT PEOPLE!**_


	8. Jerza part 8

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

"Good luck", Lucy whispered and squeezed her hand gently.

"Ezra-nii will win for sure", Juvia said and tugged at her arm gently before letting her go.

Erza hadn´t expected to be third up, but she wasn´t nervous about losing any time soon. She had faith in her own ability and knew she would go far, most likely to the final. But to be over-confident was a great danger that could result in loss and thus Erza would take every opponent on as if he or she was the greatest sword-fighter ever.

Vijeeter entered opposite of the port Erza had gone through. The man entered in a way that made her lift her eyebrows. First of all, his armor looked different – thinner and weaker. It looked as if there was missing parts in some places. Secondly, Vijeeter seemed to be dancing. Erza frowned at the strange movement he did – if it was dancing, it wasn´t particularly good. Erza stopped in the middle of the court and waited for the dancer to arrive.

Laxus, her cousin, stood close by her, waiting for the dancer as well.

"Take your time, it´s not like there´s other matches coming up", Laxus muttered and Erza couldn´t restrain a smile of amusement even though she kept her giggle in. Laxus didn´t know it was her inside and she couldn´t reveal her identity, or else his decisions could be affected by who she was.

Vijeeter finally reached the middle of the court and Laxus asked if they remembered the rules before starting the match. Erza was quick to draw her sword but as she was about to attack her opponent the man had moved away by dancing. He held his sword in his hand but he held it with the arm high and his sword pointing at her, as if he was going to thrust it through her. Erza frowned at the strange man.

But it still won´t be a problem knocking it out of his hand…

Erza went low and thrust her sword upwards with the flat side towards his sword, but before she could hit his sword he sidestepped and her sword hit empty air. Erza stopped for a moment, on defense and looked at his movements. He wasn´t on offense since he didn´t attack, but neither was he on defense as he wouldn´t have a chance to defend himself from a sword the way he held his own. Erza moved forward as to attack, but she was learning his movement-pattern. She then went left with a bigger leap and he moved to the right as she had predicted. What she had noticed was that he was slower than her, meaning she would be able to intercept him. The distance between them were now smaller than before and she moved quicker towards him, forward – left – right –right – forward. When she was close enough, she turned her sword and thrust the top of the handle into his chest, knocking him out cold.

"Winner – Ezra Titan!" Laxus called out. "Nice hit there, cousin", he mumbled to her as she passed him on her way back in.

"Right in solar-plexus", she answered in a mumbling and she caught a small smirk as answer from him.

When she arrived inside her sisters smiled at her under their helmets.

"As expected", Lucy said cheerfully and Juvia nodded excitedly.

"I hope the others will be more of swordsmen, especially for your training´s sake. My opponent was more of a dancer than a fighter", Erza told them.

The girls giggled and Juvia then said that most won´t be any resistance for her.

\- Maybe… maybe _he _could…

Lucy sighed. "I´m starting to get all nervous again. What if we´re up next? Against each other?!"

Erza smiled to calm her. "Don´t worry, I´m sure you won´t fight each other first of all. And you´re probably not up next."

_Erza was right, the two younger princesses weren´t the next to fight. But our hero´s brother was._

"Don´t screw this up Natsu", Gray told him and Natsu grinned with confidence as he entered the field.

His opponent didn´t look like much of a fighter. Natsu remembered he was named Max or something and the guy didn´t make much of an impression. In the middle of the field stood the referee, a middle aged man with back-slick. Natsu had to give it to the guy – he was well-built and Natsu could see he´d lost a leg, probably in some battle.

\- That´s impressive, even though he´s missing a leg, he´s still working out.

"I suppose you remember the rules", the referee said. "Let´s not wait any longer, let´s begin. Go."

The second the refree allowed them to start, Natsu readied his sword and prepared for attack. But before he got a chance to strike, sand was all around him as he couldn't see. Hearing something behind him, he quickly spun around and blocked his opponent in the last second.

\- Looks like this will be harder than I thought.

Max disappeared in the sand again and Natsu half-closed his eyelids in a meaningless attempt to see. It was hopeless and he stepped aside in the last second again, almost getting hit on the arm by his opponent.

\- Okay, looks like it will be way harder than I thought.

* * *

**An update! Woop-woop!**

**Happy New Year´s peepz! (A couple of days late)**

**Hope you had a great eve (I didn´t, got sick... oh well, that´s just life) and a great (or at least good) year before that. (At least tell me your year was alright! or else, this will be me - :( ) And let´s hope for a better year now cause it can always get better :P**

**Okay, rambling moment over. Wanna thank you who reviewed for my christmas gift ^-^**

**An answer to Anonymous (again) because every review I get is ecually worth to me, wheter you´re a member or no - and everyone need to get an answer ^-^**

I don´t mind a late gift, I still have some left to get at it is so you can leave me another review and call it a christmas gift ;) Merry Christmas back, and Happy New Year´s too - late of course.

I could still post the Christmas special - but I never finished XD

The match between Erza and Jellal... that would be something. Not sure if it´ll happen, I´m still having some scenarios... but I have time to decide :P

Oh Mavis, 1000 chapters? I dunno, I was really hoping for at maximum 100 with all the stories XD like 20 chaps max per story... isn´t that enough? XD

Thanks for leaving a review, I love your reviews just as much! You should become a member already so I can PM you! And then we could have these awesome conversations ;) :3

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**Please leave me a review människor! No need to use translate ****for that, it simply means "people" :P But seriously peepz, I´ll adore you for it ^-^**


	9. Jerza part 9

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

_At the tournament the crowd was all silent, hoping to understand what was going on in the arena. They simply could not see a thing, and they could not understand why. What had been done to make a big sand-cloud appear around the fighters? This was not what they had paid to see.  
Do not all of us wonder what was going on inside the cloud?_

Natsu once again barely avoided his opponent. It was obvious that it was Max doing, but how? Witchcraft? Did he have a broom he dragged around quickly with his free arm? He had a one-handed sword after all…

\- No, focus! How can I defeat him? I can't disappoint Siegrain by losing right away.

Natsu heard a sound to the left and moved to the right, spinning around in the air to block the attack.

"He's loud", Natsu muttered under his breath as the sword once again disappeared into the cloud of dust that was all around them.

\- I can hear where he is! Natsu realized and closed his eyes.

Right. He blocked the hit and listened as Max moved to attack from a different angle.

\- There.

He thrust his sword in that direction, flat side so he wouldn't make a serious injury and heard how Max lost his balance. Opening his eyes, Natsu saw that some of the dust had settled when Max fell, and thus he could see his opponent struggling to get back up. Quick thinking, he kicked him back down and took the sword from his hand.

"I win!" he yelled and the referee saw that Max had no weapon, lying flat on the ground.

"The winner is Natsu Dragbuster!" the referee called out and making the crowd clap their hands. They weren´t any less confused however as no one had seen how the young man had won.

Natsu, throwing his hands in the air as a victory-gesture, grinned widely.

\- I´m sure Siegrain will be impressed! And that ice-prick too!

"Did you see that Gray? I totally busted his ass!" Natsu said to his brother as he arrived. He pulled his helmet over his head and put it under his arm.

"No idiot I didn't see, we're not allowed to watch other matches, remember?"

"Oh, right. All you need to know anyway is that I was awesome", Natsu grinned and Gray shook his head.

\- Natsu, you simply never change, Gray thought.

"Next match is between Lucien Titan and Everlue, please prepare yourselves and head to the grounds!"

_The man called Everlue was on the fighting grounds mere seconds after being called out. His opponent, however, seemed to be reluctant to leave the waiting area._

"I can't do this Erza!" Lucy hissed to her sister. "Please, just let me not do it!"

"Nonsense, you'll be fine", Erza said firmly pushing her sister towards the doors gently. "Now go on, just do what I've taught you."

"What if I die!"

"You won't", Erza sighed. "I've explained it before, haven't I? You won´t be fighting to death, worst that can happen is that you´ll get a small cut on your hand."

Lucy nodded slowly. "A small cut. Not worse than a prick by a needle, right?"

Erza smiled, thinking he sister was convinced. "Exactly."

"I hate needles! I don´t wanna!"

"Lucy", Erza said extremely quiet. "You will win. I've trained you myself. If you don't, I haven't trained you enough and then I'll have to train you much harder than before."

Lucy swallowed. She who had thought their trainings were tough enough as it was. Tougher than she could handle, actually.

"I'll win", Lucy said and saying the words out loud made her feel a bit more confident.

\- That's right, Erza trained me. And Erza is the best at sword fighting in the kingdom. We're sisters. I must have some of the abilities she has.

Entering the tournament grounds Lucy instantly felt a bit relieved seeing Freed Justine was going to overlook her match. Freed worked in the castle and Lucy knew that the green-haired man was rather serious and very fair. He wouldn´t allow any breakings of the rules.

She stopped in front of her opponent, Everlue. He was short and no armor could hide that figure. He looked rather out of shape. She wasn´t exactly the fittest, but she could probably out-tire this man.

* * *

**I´m sorry for the long wait peepz! I really am, but I haven´t had time! Though I´m here now :) I know Lucy appeared as a coward here, but I want to remind you guys that she and Juvia never have fought before and that it´s not usual for women to fight.**

**Alright, so mind letting me know what you think? Maybe I´ll be able to publish the next chapter sooner... ;)**

Anonymous! You´re back you lazy human-unicorn-potato (whatever you prefer)! Make an account for me XD  
Well, you better keep wait for the Jerza cuz it will take time. NaLu and GaLe and Gruvia and ElfEver will happen, ElfEver and GaLe earlier than the others however. I´ll finish the Christmas special before the upcoming Christmas XD  


I´m so honored that I´m a must review :3

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**So yeah, leave me a review and I´ll see you soon I think (next chapter is so far one of my faves I think ^-^)**

**Bye lovlies!**


	10. Jerza part 10

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

_Waiting for the next match to begin the on-lookers waited impatiently. They all wanted to see the men fight and see just who would win in the end. Most of them expected it to be their princess Erza, but the idea of missing out on the biggest gossip in this decade if she lost was something they weren´t interested in._

"Bets! Place your bets here! Who will win this match? The slender Lucien or the round Everlue?" Cana Alberona called out among the audience from her stand.

"Cana-chan!" a white-haired girl arrived at the stand.

"Mira, what are you doing here?"

"Just cheering on Elfman", she said and smiled. "I would like to bet."

"Oh? On what match?"

"This match, I place my money on Lucien."

"Alright, the odds are in favor so far."

Mira smiled and gave her the money for the bet.

"You better win now, Lucien Titan", Mira said and the sweet girl suddenly got a demonic-aura around her as she glared at Lucien out on the field.

…

Lucy felt a sudden chill down her spine. She looked over her shoulder wondering what had caused it. But the next second it was gone and left her in confusion.

"I don´t want any foul play now lads, follow the rules", Freed said and then begun the match.

Lucy readied her sword, preparing herself for an attack from her enemy. However she discovered to her surprise that her opponent wasn´t in front of her. She frowned and stayed on her alert as she tried to spot her opponent again. Suddenly she felt a hard blow to her side and she flew in the other direction. Almost dropping her sword at the impact with the ground, she clutched it hard in her hand as she rose from it.

"What the…?" she muttered as she bent her knees to get a more stable stance, keeping an eye out for Everlue.

A blow to the back and she fell forward with a gasp. She still clutched the sword in her hand refusing to drop it as she knew she then could be counted as un-armed and lose. She had to win; Erza had put her faith in her. She couldn´t disappoint her sister. Spinning around, Lucy kicked upward to defend herself from another blow from Everlue.

A second she heard the roar from the crowd for not losing quite yet, and then everything disappeared and it was just her and her opponent again. Every sound and the crowd, Freed, even the pressure to win was all silent, gone. She could win this and she would. Not for Erza´s sake, and not for the sake of having easier trainings – for her own sake. For the feeling of not being defenseless, but being strong. She could defend herself and she would from now on – she wasn´t as weak as people thought. Or at least she didn´t want to be. Not anymore.

All their lives, Juvia and Lucy had been compared to Erza. Erza was so strong. Erza was so fast. Erza was so agile. Erza was so skilled with the sword. Erza, Erza, Erza. Lucy loved her sisters, but she didn´t want anyone to look at her and wonder how Erza had become so strong when Lucy was weak. Not anymore, no from now on it would be obvious that they were siblings – they would fight side by side and win everything.

Lucy lashed forward and her sword clashed with Everlue´s. He stumbled backwards in surprise but Lucy didn´t let him catch his balance. With a jump she kicked him in the chest and landed gracefully with her knees bent in front of Everlue´s body. Kicking the sword further away from his hands she had disarmed him.

Everything around her came into focus again.

"Winner: Lucien Titan", Freed acknowledged with a loud voice and the roar of the crowd almost drowned his words.

Lucy looked around herself for a moment, stunned by what had happened. She then turned her back to Freed and Everlue, still on the ground, starting to walk back to the waiting area.

However, the sound on bone-breaking and a guttural gurgle made her turn back.

"I said ' no foul play'", Freed said as he lowered his hand.

Everlue lay on the ground with the sword in his hands and his jaw looked slightly disconnected. He had tried to attack her from behind, after losing, but Freed had stopped him. She bowed toward him as a sign of gratitude before walking back to her sisters.

Juvia hugged her the second she stepped inside and Erza placed a hand on Lucy´s shoulder.

"Good work Lucy. I´m proud over you", Erza smiled and Lucy smiled back, small tears gathering in her eyes.

\- I did it! she thought proudly. On my own, I did it. I won.

And a big grin spread in her face as she realized this. She had never been this proud over herself before.

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**I´m back with an update :) This is probably my fave chapter so far, because of Lucy´s developement I think...**

Anonymous 13: Here it is, sorry I was gonna put it up sooner but I´ve heard your wish! ;)  
Ps - your puppy dog eyes almost crushed me...

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Anonymous: Back again I see, if it´s you... How would I know for sure, a lot will probably call themselves "Anonymous" ;)  
You got to see the fight, was it up to your expectations or just nah? And nope, still no Jerza for like... many chapters... sorry...  
Not a Miraxus shipper, sorry, and Zervis is like adorable but at the same time so hard... maybe if Natsu kills him the two of them can be together? :3

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**Next chapter will leave our main story for a bit however, ElfEver is to be expected ;)**

**But that chapter wil probably take time because I have a bit of a hard time with it...**


	11. Jerza part 11

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

_A break for our heroes and their siblings has come. The fights however continue._

"Cana-chan", Mirajane stood before her friend once again.

"You're here to bet?" Cana asked her way too cheerfully due to the beer in her hand but Mirajane only shook her head as answer, not mentioning anything about her friend being tipsy.

"Elfman´s next… I´m a bit worried…"

Cana seemed to sober up. "Mira, he´ll be fine. Elfman´s strong and besides the rules…"

Mirajane nodded. "I know… it´s just, it´s enough having Lisanna home ill… I´m scared what would happen if Elfman got hurt…"

Cana placed a hand on her friend´s shoulder and squeezed gently. "Don´t worry. I´m sure he´ll be fine. And you know that if anything ever would happen to any of you, the Raijinshuu family would be over in a heart-beat. Laxus´ orders."

Mirajane smiled faintly. "You´re right. I´m being silly."

_As the women were speaking the men entered the field. One tall and muscular, one slender with the strangest walk seen so far in the tournament._

Elfman had always been strong and he was very aware of that. Compared to the man before him, Bacchus, he weight at least 15 kilograms more only muscles. Perhaps more.

Because of that, Elfman knew that if they got into a close combat he could win only by muscle-power.

"Alright, let´s keep it clean", the referee, a green-haired man said. "I don´t want any rule-breaking."

Elfman wondered why Gildarts or Laxus wasn´t referring this match, he recognized the green-haired´s voice as the referee from the match before. Could it be because they knew him? It seemed a bit silly, but maybe someone feared they wouldn´t be just.

"Let the fight begin", the referee said.

Elfman went straight to attack, aiming for the sword to knock it out of the man´s hand. In the last second, the man toppled over as if drunk and Elfman´s sword cut through air. Elfman turned to the man who was standing up again, flashing a cocky grin behind the helmet. He then proceeded to attack Elfman, looking as if he would fall over when he moved forward. Elfman blocked the sword but it had only been a diversion, the real hit came from Bacchus kick to his hip. Elfman budged a bit, but as he had expected, Bacchus didn´t have much muscle power.

Elfman faked a kick to the right and smashed his palm into Bacchus chest. His opponent stumbled backwards and Elfman aimed to hit the sword, but a memory of seeing Bacchus around town made him hesitate.

Elfman had never seen Bacchus with someone. Only when ordering a drink at the bar he´d seen Bacchus say something to anyone.

While Elfman had so many. He had his sisters, the Raijinshuu siblings, Cana and Gildarts, the regulars at the bar Mira and he worked at… He was a happy man and had no need to win the tournament – he didn't even want to.

"I don't need your pity", Bacchus spat when seeing Elfman's hesitation.

The kick that hit Elfman this time was harder, en-raged. Elfman took a step back to catch his balance.

As a man, Elfman had a certain pride, honor really. And as a man, he couldn´t just give the win away – both for the sake of his own pride and for the sake of Bacchus´ pride. So Elfman had to lose, but do it in a way that made it seem as if Bacchus had been the stronger one.

The fight went on for a long time. Almost not blocking any of the hits Bacchus sent him, Elfman´s leg started to ache. He got some nice hits onto Bacchus too but he held back when he struck. After some more minutes, Elfman could barely stand on the leg.

\- Why won´t he try to un-arm me?

Elfman, wanting to see an end to the fight already, aimed for Bacchus sword. Bacchus blocked Elfman´s hit with his own sword and as they were standing sword to sword, Bacchus did a risky move by kicking Elfman´s sword-hand. Normally, Elfman probably wouldn´t have dropped the sword from a kick like that, but this time he did on purpose. The referee called an end to the match and Elfman could finally leave.

Heading to the infirmary Elfman made sure that his leg would be fine and then he limped out from the tournament grounds.

"Idiot."

He turned to the voice.

"What?"

She was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. "I saw the match, Elfman."

"And your point is?"

"Why did you give up?"

Elfman looked away, over the trees and kept silent.

"Why did you lose on purpose?" she stood up and walked over to him as she talked. "I saw the match and you could easily beat that drunk! Why did you give up?" she stopped two steps from him.

"Why? That's simple", Elfman answered and looked at her. "He wanted to win more."

"You didn't want to win, you mean?"

"Ever, why do you care so much?"

"My name's Evergreen, only my brother's call me Ever, so stop."

"I'm not suited to be king anyway. I would have looked ridiculous."

"Yes, you would", Evergreen said and Elfman gave her a tired look.

"I'm not in the mood for hearing your insults today."

Elfman turned around and left, but Evergreen followed him.

"You´d look stupid next to any girl that´s not me", she said and at his sudden stop she bumped into his back.

He quickly turned around and there was only an inch of air between their bodies. "That´s probably the first time you made sense, woman."

She rolled her eyes, trying to hide her smile. He didn´t, and taking her hand he gently kissed it.

"I won´t stop criticize you. Ever."

"I know", Elfman only answered.

"This doesn´t change anything."

"It changes everything, Ever."

"Don´t call me Ever! I told you, it won´t change any…"

He silenced her with a kiss.

Evergreen bit her lip when Elfman moved away from her.

"Maybe you´re a man after all", she muttered, blushing slightly.

"I´ve always loved you, ever since I can remember. Even when you started to criticize me all those years back."

"I was only mean to you because I had a crush on you", Evergreen muttered blushing.

"So you still have a crush on me?"

She punched him in the chest. "Isn´t it quite obvious how I feel?" Elfman looked at her in silence. "I love you too, idiot", she mumbled quietly.

* * *

**I'm so sorry guys! I should have updated this long ago, I'm so sorry you had to wait T-T**

**It's just that I prefer to begin following chapter before I post the finished one, but I couldn't figure next one out AND I haven't had any time (which is a really poor excuse because I had a break...).**

**Anyway, I hope you liked this little side-track here :) I certainly enjoyed it at least ^-^ Hey, have you guys seen the episode 413 Days? I think Evergreen's feelings just got confirmed... :3**

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Anonymous 13: I'm so sorry for making you wait! I hope you haven't gotten crazy yet... but Elfman and Elfever got together as you wished ^-^

Anonymous: Well, I suppose you are right - I do always notice it's you :P And if Mavis and Zeref got together after he die... I will fangirl. I will.

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****.  
****.  
****Thank you all for reading, and I hope I won't wait too long with the next episode, please be patient my lovely readers!**


	12. Jerza part 12

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

_After the match between Elfman and Bacchus, our heroes who had yet to fight fought and succeeded. As the day continued our heroes continued to win as well without any harder effort. But as the amount of wins exceeded, so did the quality in ability of the remaining fighters. The matches grew longer and there were shorter breaks between each fighters´ turn._

"Not many left now, is there?" Natsu asked out loud to no one in particular, but Gray answered anyways.

"Doesn't seem like it."

"We might be up against each other next time."

The brothers looked at each other for a moment before saying at the same time: "I won't lose!"

"Winner, Julien Titan!"

The same names were repeated more and more often. Gray had even started to lay some of them on memory – Julien, Lucien and Ezra Titan, Gajeel Redfox, Bacchus, Lyon Vastia, Siegrain Fernandez… the last one was someone Gray had been wondering about. He had the same first name as his stepbrother but the last name was different so it seemed unlikely it was him. But on the other hand, Gray had never thought that Siegrain was a common name.

"I think it might be us soon", Natsu said. "Neither of us have had a fight in some time."

"I know. I just hope we´re not up against each other", Gray muttered.

"What's that? You're not afraid are you?"

"I thought we had already settled this since long – I'm not afraid of you and I will win. It would just be boring, we trained together and thus, we know each other's moves."

"Mhm", Natsu only answered, probably not listening at all.

"Next match is between Gajeel Redfox and Natsu Dragbuster!"

Natsu didn't move.

"Natsu, you're up", Gray said.

"What?"

"You're next."

"Did they say Gajeel Redfox?"

Gray nodded and something dark passed over Natsu's face.

"I thought I would never see that bastard again", Natsu muttered grimly before pulling his helmet down.

"What did he do?"

"He ate the last of the feast!" Natsu roared and then entered the field.

Gray stared after his brother.

\- He truly is an idiot, no doubt.

_Standing in a corner at the crowd-area, a figure looked out over the arena grounds and watched as the two men entered._

"Don't do anything stupid now, Gajeel."

Running out on the field, Natsu was still fuming with anger. He hadn't really told Gray the whole reason for the anger, though the feast was a part.

Standing in front of each other, Natsu glared at his opponent. Taller and broader than Natsu himself, with dark, long and messy hair in a pony-tail so to not have it in the way. His red eyes gleamed and he was showing of a confident grin, not even wearing a helmet.

Natsu pulled his own off. "You're going down, bastard."

"Bring it on, Salamander."

"We're using swords in this tournament guys. Whenever you've finished quibble like old ladies over tea-break we can start this", the blonde referee rolled his eyes. The competitors stayed silent this time. "Alright, prepare yourselves. Begin."

The referee had barely said the last word before the young men's sword clashed.

"So you can wield a sword after all?" Gajeel taunted. "Maybe even fight with it?"

"SHUT UP!"

Natsu hit with more force and Gajeel had to take a step back to regain his balance.

"A long time has passed since then."

"And you're still as weak, Salamander."

That name still made Natsu's eye twitch as he remembered older times.

"I couldn't defend them, but I will defeat you."

* * *

**I'm so very sorry for the long wait! I don't even have a good excuse for leaving you guys hanging for so long so I won't even try... hope you liked it, and I warn you, my dear readers, that the next update might take a very long time, even longer than this. You see, lately I haven't really felt like writing... but we'll see, maybe it'll come back :)**

**Anyways, thanks for the read and sorry for the long wait. Thanks for sticking by guys!**

...

_Anonymous_**: Thanks for updating on the last chapter and I hope you'll be around to see this - I wouldn't want to lose my readers, but I have been gone for long...**

**About the Mavis x Zeref ship... heard about Lumen Historie? Who knows what will happen...?**

**...**

_Anonymous 13_**: I was only planning to do the ships in the description, but if requested by the readers, I might add a side couple that will be in and have a minor roll :) But you will have to wait for Jellal's butt-kicking. Don't worry about you phone's auto-correct, it happens to all of us. And yes, it's an idea but unfortunately I haven't really found anyone else to ask for advice.**

**I hope I'll see you comment in this two, would hate to lose my readers, but I know I've been gone for long... Anyways, I thank you for updating on the last chapter! ^-^**


	13. Jerza part 13

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

When being just a child, before Siegrain moved in, Natsu and Gray rarely fought, but when they did it wasn't a pleasant sight. And whenever Natsu hadn't felt like talking to his mother or seeing his brother he always walked out into the forests. He found something like peace there.

One day, Natsu had stumbled into a pond. After that, he sat at the edge of the pond, dripping wet, and watched the inhabitants swim around. He had never seen such an animal before – a water lizard. Waiting there for longer than he thought, his mother was very worried when he got back. And even though he felt bad for being gone for so long, he left the following day as well, going to the pond. And the next day, and the next, and the next. Sitting completely still, watching the water lizards. Fascinated Natsu watched as they seemingly played and later he also asked his mother – very subtle – about different animals in hope to gain some information on the water lizards without giving away that he had found some. They were his secret.

Or so he thought.

After some time, the water lizards – salamanders – got used to him and became almost tame. He visited them every day and started to consider them friends.

One day he was stopped from visiting the salamanders by a boy some year older than him. A boy with dark ragged hair and red gleaming eyes. For some reason Natsu couldn't remember later, they started fighting.

Without having a winner in the fight, the two boys in the end were unable to fight and had to leave in different directions.

"This ain't over", was the last thing Natsu heard the other boy say.

Several days passed, but Natsu didn't see the other boy again when he went to see his friends and thus, he assumed that the other boy was all words and no action. He couldn't have known that his enemy was spying on him. And without wanting to, Natsu revealed his secret for the other boy. Soon the black-headed boy learned that Natsu was found of the salamanders, visiting them every day.

And then one day, Natsu wasn't the first to have been by the salamanders. When arriving he found his friends without neither front nor back legs and no tails. Dead. They had to be with all those missing limbs.

A knife lay by the pound and a little note.

_Don't come back pinky, or I will go after the babies too. This is my forest._

_Gajeel Redfox_

And Natsu returned crying home, crying because he hadn't been able to save his friends. When Gray asked why he was crying, he didn't even glare at his brother, he just sobbed more.

This was before the brother's _always_ fought, and every once in a while they did share some brotherly moments. This was one of those times.

Gray hugged his brother until he stopped crying, but then they didn't talk to each other for the rest of the day. Later that evening Natsu learned that when salamander's lose limbs they can grow out again, but he didn't dare to see them again anyways.

After this Natsu fought with Gray each day. In the beginning it was all his own fault, but after some time his brother started just as many of the fights. Gray had never known why Natsu had begun to always fight and neither did their mother, because Natsu never told anyone. But he knew for sure that next time whenever his family or friends were in danger, he would protect them. No one would ever get to hurt anyone he cared for again.

* * *

**Back sooner than expected, woop woop!**

**Now you know what happened between Gajeel and Natsu, and why Natsu hates Gajeel so much. Gajeel had his own reasons for why he wanted the forest to himself but that is another story. Gajeel isn't one of the main's.**

**But with a short sum - Gajeel had a bit of a rough childhood and he met a very important person in his life there who he was able to escape from his life with. (That person is Levy)**

**Since I'm having Easter break now I might be able to write some more, but no promises of an update will be given.**

_Anonymous 13_** : I'm really happy to see you're still here my friend! :) and thanks, that's really a good advice - I usually do that but this time I think it was more a question of not feeling like writing. And of course, school -.-**

**Never ever apologize for a long review! They're my favorite kind :3 And was this Gajevy / Gale enough for you?;)**

**Thanks for reviewing, I'm so very glad you're still here (especially since you are a guest and can't follow me through e-mails XD)**

_JeRza shipper_**:**** I'm so glad to hear that! ^-^ Yes, it's based on Cinderella, I foound this picture a fan had made and I just loved the idea. It had Erza dressed in the prince's outfit and Jellal running away in a dress dropping the glass shoe XD So I decided to stick with Erza as the royal and Jellal as Cinderella :) but thinking about the story, I wanted to make my own wich is why I wanted a tournament - I just thought; what has Erza written all over it? A sword fight.**

**It's actually one of the things I like the best about this story ^-^**

**Thanks a lot for the review, stay awesome - your review made me very happy (all about the plotline and grammar :3)**

**Bye guys, a big thank you for reading, stay awesome you guys and I see you when I see you, but I will be back - don't worry!**


	14. Jerza part 14

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

_Natsu's hate for Gajeel had stayed alive for years, even after Natsu had learnt that the limbs of a salamander grow out again. And the hate was very much alive in this fight._

Natsu blocked Gajeel's sword again. They had been ongoing for what felt like an eternity, and yet Natsu could go on for just as long again. And so could Gajeel, it seemed. Swing, block, kick, hit, duck, punch, step back and hit. Both of them earned equal amount of hits but neither gained advantage. And their energy seemed to be just as full as earlier.

Blocking Gajeel's sword once again, Natsu sidestepped so he wouldn't have to take all the force straight on and elbowed his enemy in the face. Gajeel had to take a step back but in the next moment, when Natsu was about to punch him, he had already stepped aside and was swinging his sword towards Natsu. Instead of blocking this time, Natsu ducked and felt the wind from the swing as it graced just above his head.

\- I have to break the pattern and take him by surprise, Natsu thought.

And instead of rising up like Gajeel had expected him to, Natsu stayed low and swung the sword toward Gajeel's legs. To avoid the sword, the taller man had to jump and when he did so Natsu quickly stood up and kicked him while he was still in the air.

Gajeel having no chance of regaining his balance if he would get hit in the air tried to block the kick with his sword, but the force in the kick still sent him flying back. Landing on the ground, Natsu was quickly over him and pointed his sword to Gajeel's chest. But before the refree could announce Natsu as the winner, Gajeel somehow managed to kick Natsu's sword away and rolled back with a somersault. Then he was suddenly standing in a squat. But as he rose he wasn't keeping his guard up enough and so Natsu managed to kick down on the hand in which Gajeel was holding the sword. The sudden hit surprised Gajeel and made him drop the sword.

"Winner – Natsu Dragbuster!"

But the refree's voice was barely audible over the roar of the winner. The roar of a dragon, was what people would say later on.

"You were lucky this time", Gajeel muttered.

"Don't be a sore loser, Gajeel", the referee said to him.

"Shut it, Lightning Boy."

Laxus just laughed at the insult from one of the people he had played with as a child.

Gajeel turned his back to the winner and limped out of the arena. He needed to go to the infirmary and he wasn't looking forward to it. He knew what to expect.

Or at least, he had thought he knew.

When arriving there, he was the only one in the room. Waiting for someone to come, he sat down.

"Honestly, you're hopeless Gajeel", a soft sigh was heard as she approached him.

He didn't look up and said nothing.

She dipped a cloth in lukewarm water and started to clean wounds, scrapes and wipe the blood away. She didn't say anything and eventually Gajeel broke the silence.

"I knew you'd be angry but no yelling? I'm slightly disappointed. I took the time to prepare a defense."

"I'm not angry."

"You're not saying anything. You're definitely angry. I know you Shrimp."

Her arm dropped and she put the cloth down next to the bowl with lukewarm, light red water.

"What do you want me to say, Gajeel?" she glared into his eyes. " You already know what I want to say, but it wouldn't make any difference now."

"Levy. I only wanted to see if I was stronger than Titania. The prize was nothing for me."

Levy looked away. "Whatever. I need some bandage, wait here."

Levy turned her back to him and was about to leave, but he stopped her. Levy´s breath hitched in her throat as she felt his arms wrap around her from behind.

"You're the only one for me Shrimp. I had to participate as an unmarried man over eighteen, but even if I had made it to the finals, I would have lost on purpose. You need to be by my side so I don't lose you."

"You're such an idiot. You truly are an idiot. You weren't supposed to get hurt, you promised me", Levy mumbled, a blush burning her cheeks. "And I'm serious; I need to get those bandages."

Gajeel let her go and Levy turned around. "Now sit down. Look what you did! It started to bleed again!"

Levy picked the cloth up and wiped the cut in his forehead.

"Make sure to stay by my side from now on then, if you're worried I'll disappear", Levy mumbled in his ear before she left.

Gajeel grinned and before disappearing out of sight to retrieve bandages, she looked over her shoulder and smiled at him.

When returning Levy effectively bound the wounds in need and Gajeel sat still with his eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of her fingers grazing his skin. When she was finished, she stood still close to him but not touching. Gajeel opened his eyes and looked at her face. Grabbing her hand, he gently kissed her delicate fingers.

Levy blushed and was about to pull her hand back, but Gajeel simply held it harder and pulled her closer. She blushed an even deeper shade of red and closed her eyes when he kissed her.

"Stop being angry already", he mumbled against her lips.

"Gajeel…"

But he kissed her, drowning any protest she might had been about to utter.

* * *

_Anonymous:_ **Don't worry about missing a review, I don't mind as long as you come back to continue reading ^-^ I think we're all patiently waiting for Jerza *sigh* **_  
_  
_Anonymous 13:_ ****You're _not _shocked he did it? I think you might be the first... even I was a bit shocked of myself having Gajeel doing it... but it was necessary for finding a purpose of the nickname. Levy has now appeared - all Gale shippers are very happy now I hope - and about your other questions, you're just going to have to wait and see ;)****

_..._

**Leave a review and let me know how you like it ^-^**


	15. Jerza part 15

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

"_After Natsu defeated his childhood enemy, Lucy was up next. Having made it this far, she was determined to win once more. It was a though battle for her, but in the end she defeated her opponent – a "pretty-boy" not really wanting to get his hands dirty._

Lucy swung low on Hibiki's sword and it left his hand. After the sword had flown out of his hand, he was looking at the hand carefully to make sure she hadn't even made the tiniest scratch.

\- Such a man isn't befitting of being our king anyway, Lucy thought as she headed back to her sisters.

"What are you doing?" she asked her sisters as she strode up to them.

"We've been calculating on who of us that will be up next", Erza answered.

"And?"

"Julien. You and I both have had the same amount of fights so far."  
"How many do you think are left?" Juvia asked.

"I was going to ask Lucien to help me since he's even better at numbers", Erza said and looked at Lucy. "Together, I think we'll be able to figure it out."

"Prepare for your match Julien, you could be next."

Juvia nodded.

_The girls were not far off, but Juvia had to wait a little more before her time._

"Gray Dragbuster and Mest Doranbolt, please prepare yourselves."

"Looks like I'm up", Gray said and rose from his seated position next to his brother.

"Don't let Siegrain down", Natsu said. "He put a lot of time into training us."

"I won't."

The blonde referee was waiting on the fighting grounds. Gray was first out and watched as his opponent walked out. He was walking in a normal pace not seemingly nervous or in a rush. But suddenly he stopped, pulled his helmet of and threw himself at the ground, rubbing his face against the ground. Then he stood up, nodded to himself and put the helmet back on before proceeding to the awaiting men.

\- What is wrong with this guy? Gray thought and frowned.

Mest walked the last bit up to them.

"What was up with that?" the blonde referee asked slightly annoyed.

"I just got so curious on how the ground would feel against my face", Mest answered and Gray thought that Mest must be the weirdest person he had ever seen.

"Whatever, are you ready?" both men in armour prepared their stance. "Begin."

Gray had planned on being the one to attack first but he found himself having to block his opponent's sword in the last second. Then Mest had disappeared and Gray had to look around to find him. Once again he tried to attack but Mest was even quicker.

\- What the...? How does he move this quick?!

Over and over again Gray found himself blocking his opponent the last second and hitting in empty air if he tried anything. When their swords clashed again he suddenly recieved a kick to his stomach and flew back. As soon as he stood up he recieved another kick and although the atmour protected him he gasped for air from hitting the ground the second time.

\- It's no use, I can't win like this... I can't even attack properly.

He was preparing to get hit again but then Mest suddenly stopped and stood still for a second.

"I must know!" he screamed and turned his back towards Gray. Then he ran before he jumped forward and slid on the stomach against the ground.

And that's when Gray figured out how to beat him.

The two fighters met in the middle, clashing swords.

"Hey, don't you wonder how it feels to drop the sword?"

"That would mean I lose", Mest answered. "I MUST KNOW!"

And Mest withdrew from Gray and dropped his sword.

"The winner is Gray Fullbuster!"

"I do not enjoy this sensation", Mest said and Gray pat him on the shoulder when he passed by.

"Sorry man, but we all want to win."

* * *

**Brains beat muscle - or in this case speed.**

**Sorry for the absence - but this is how it's going to be for awhile... I just have a hard time with this story.**

**But I want to thank you all for your patience with me! And please do continue to review even though I suck at answering them and at updating - it's very uplifting to go back to the computer and remember what you've told me ^-^**

**A big thanks to the people who wait patiently and come back for more of my chapters, and also to you guys that just keeps reviewing!**

**...**

_Guest:_ **I'm very glad to hear you liked the Gale my fellow shipper ^-^**

_Anonymous 13:_ **Well yeah, I suppose Gajeel is kind of brute but torture... maybe befitting when he was in Phantom but now I don't think he would have done someting like that... But I take it as if you enjoyed our Gale at least ^-^ thank you for complementing my writer-skills (but I still have a lot to learn), it means a lot to me when I'm told as this has been one of my favorite hobbies since I was quite young :)**

_Anonymous: _**I'm glad you liked the Gale ^-^ but I also know you're just waiting impatiently for the Jerza to come (and this is something that really scare me - what if you get disappointed?)**

**Honestly I doubt that Natsu will ever be able to beat Erza - not because he might not be stronger, but because of the psychological part. He has never won before so that's probably something that sticks in his mind. But then Erza also said once that Natsu will be able to surpass her one day. And he is crazy strong now... I was thinking at first "wow, he's as strong as Gildarts back on Tenrou" and then "HOLY MOTHER OF... HE FRIGGING DEFEATED A GOD!" So it might not be impossible.**

**But since we don't know how strong Erza's gotten lately... hm...**

_Katie: _**I'm glad you liked the Gale ^-^ But the Jerza will have to wait some more...  
**

* * *

_Extra warning to all my readers!_

_I don't know when next update will show up and I'm sorry for that. It will be like that for some time forward now and I don't know for how long. I'm sorry._


	16. Jerza part 16

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

_After a sudden flash of brilliance, Gray defeated his opponent. He returned to his brother and all of our heroes wondered who would be the next to fight. _

_As our heroes patiently awaited who of them that would fight the next match, they all noticed how empty the area around them had become. In fact, they were the only ones left – Gray and Natsu in one area, Erza and her sisters in another. Although Siegrain was waiting in silence with an unknown man who smelled strongly – not necessarily a disgusting scent but Siegrain felt as if he could have been without it. _

"A round of applause for the participants who've gotten this far! There's only eight remaining now, meaning the final match is drawing closer!"

_The three sisters who all had removed their helmets when they had realized they were the only ones left, looked at each other with pride and surprise. They wondered if one of them were to fight next, but before them it was Siegrain's named that was called out and just as every time before, Erza couldn't help but to flinch slightly when hearing the name._

"Fernandez", she muttered silently and Lucy looked at her.

"Did you say something?"

Erza shook her head. "Just talking to myself."

"If you're trying to calm yourself, there is no need for that as you are the most skilled there is", Lucy said to her older sister. Erza smiled at her sister's words.

Both Juvia and Lucy believed that Erza would be the one to win the tournament, but Erza felt a seed of doubt. Or more precisely, she felt a twinge of hope. She hadn't heard his name being called once, but she couldn't shake the feeling that he was still alive and well. In her heart, she believed that she would have known if something would have happened to him. They had known each other all their lives before he disappeared. And even though she was so sure that he was okay, she still wondered why he had never come back.

After hearing his name being called, Siegrain entered the field to face the opponent he had heard being called Jura Neekis. Jura entered about the same time as Siegrain, but when comparing their physical appearance, Siegrain could have been a kid. Well he was only eighteen and Jura was surely closer to thirty, but it still seemed ridiculous in Siegrain's eyes. While he himself was somewhat tall and slender, his opponent was enormous compared to him. Above average in height and with a muscularity that the armor couldn't hide. But when walking Jura still looked flexible and fast enough to keep up with Siegrain. This was a fight he needed to be more skilled, fast and agile than his opponent. And if he took a blow straight on he could possible lose right away.

The oldest of the referees, the one with the ginger hair and back-slick, awaited the fighters in the middle of the court. He was the one of the referees who talked the least, followed by the blonde one.

"Ready? Begin", was the only words the referee uttered.

Siegrain figured that the way he would win was to attack first and fast, to make the match as short as possible so that Jura hopefully wouldn't be able to land any hits on him at all.

Unfortunately, Siegrain underestimated his opponent. Coming at Jura with high speed Siegrain aimed for Jura's sword hand in hope of unarm him quickly. But Jura brushed Siegrain's sword off with a swift movement as he sidestepped. The brush from Jura's sword was enough for Siegrain to stumble a few steps. But Siegrain was quick to attack once again, feinting with his sword as if he was going for Jura's legs, but really aiming a kick to the upper body. Although it being a direct hit it didn't seem to bother Jura much. Next, Jura lunged at Siegrain but using Jura's body to his disadvantage, Siegrain turned the attack from Jura into an attack from himself. However, Jura surprised Siegrain in doing a thing much similar to what he himself just had done at landed a hit on Siegrain that sent him back half a meter.

To beat Jura, Siegrain needed to be quicker than he had been when attacking earlier. That wasn't impossible for him, but it surely took a lot more energy, especially when moving in an armor – even if the armor he wore was surprisingly light.

Running much quicker than before, Siegrain lunged at Jura. Jura blocked what he thought was going to be an attack straight on as he couldn't see how Siegrain possibly would be able to attack in any other way with the speed he was moving in. But this time, Jura had underestimated Siegrain. Siegrain suddenly did a quick jump diagonally right before being in the striking zone and landed next to Jura's side instead. With Jura not having a chance to fully block the attack coming from the side this time he had to quickly move away from Siegrain. As Siegrain had suspected, Jura was both quick and agile enough, but the attack had caught him off-guard and thus, Jura wouldn't be able to attack unless Siegrain gave him a chance to.

Following was a series of quick but low-power attacks from Siegrain which Jura did a good job in defending himself from. A few landed, but what Siegrain really was looking for was an opening to unarm Jura. He doubted that he would be able to put Jura in a position where said man would die or get wounded if it was a real fight.

And then it came. Taking just a little bit more power in the swing, Siegrain aimed for Jura's sword from the left at the same time as Jura was moving in the same direction as Siegrain's sword came from. Having his sword further from his body would make it harder for him to control it and with this knowledge in mind Siegrain slashed his sword full power onto Jura's so that his sword would move even further from his body. Following the swing of his own sword, Siegrain moved closer on Jura sending his elbow of his non-dominant arm straight onto Jura's wrist causing Jura to drop the sword while he was still unbalanced.

"The winner is…"

But before the referee could finish the sentence, Jura held the sword in his hand again, but his other hand this time. Somehow he had spinned around and picked it mid-air with his non-dominant hand. Although it surely was impressive, it didn't leave Siegrain awestruck. If there was a right time to attack, that time was now. Although Jura was standing in a good position he hadn't time to switch the sword back and Siegrain was determined not to give him the time to either. Starting off with a kick to Jura's side with the hope to catch him unbalanced again, Siegrain followed it up by clashing his sword with Jura's. If the sword had been held in Jura's dominant hand, Siegrain would have lost with this move. But even if Jura could be equally strong in both arms and thus Siegrain still a lot weaker, Siegrain was sure that his opponent wasn't equally skilled in both hands as few trained to be ambiguous. And with what looked like ease but took a lot more strength than visible, Siegrain unarmed Jura. To make sure that Jura wouldn't catch the sword again Siegrain caught it mid-air this time and pointed both ends towards the bigger man.

"The winner is Siegrain Fernandez!" the referee called out.

Siegrain spun Jura's sword so that he himself held the blade and pointed the handle towards Jura. Jura gripped the handled, sheathed his sword before bowing to Siegrain.

"I have met my superior. I wish you good luck in the rest of the tournament."

Siegrain bowed as well. "I thank you for a great match. You surely are skilled."

Jura laughed. "I suppose I just were unlucky to meet you early on."

_Few of the audience remembered the scene with the competitors thanking each other for the match, as most of them were greatly troubled of the amount of money they had lost. When Cana Alberona opened the betting for this match, she had staked the bets as 50/50 since both participants had shown great swordsmanship, but most had believed that Jura would win, and thus many were either in shock or rage because of their loss. And although Cana felt slightly bad taking money from the ones who bet on the wrong one, she didn't feel bad enough to cut them some slack._

\- After all, business is business, she thought as she gave a large amount of money to her friends Mira and Elfman who'd been two of the few who had betted that Siegrain Fernandez would in fact win the match.

* * *

**Well look at that, I'm back and updating again - sorry for the long wait but I suppose you guys are used to it. I have said that I won't drop this story and I still stand by that. Finally I have figured out what's going to happen.**

**_..._**

**I can't give any answers to my guest reviews of the last chapter because I somehow have gotten confused as to which of them I already have answered (usually I flag my emails but then I had unflagged them before and everything is just a mess with that at the moment), but I hope you all find this chapter again to read the continuation and I hope you're all doing fantastic!**

**Have a great day/evening/night all of you and I hope I'll see you in a review and for the next chapter!**


	17. Jerza part 17

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

_While the exciting fight between Siegrain and Jura took place, Erza beamed with happiness as she faced her sisters._

"I'm very proud of you two, you've performed far beyond my expectations, Lucy, Juvia", Erza told her sisters. She looked them in the eyes. "I will be honest with you. I expected you to win at maximum two matches each, with a lot of luck. The fact that you've come this far with so little practice makes my heart swell with pride."

The younger sisters' faces shone with pride at being praised as their older sister pulled them in for a hug.

"It's just because of Erza-nee's amazing training", Juvia said shyly as she hugged her sisters back.

"No, my training was nothing extraordinary. It's because you both gave it your all", Erza said as she shook her head.

The sisters let go of each other and Erza smiled at them. "I can't wait to see how talented you can become when this is over and we can pick up practice again. I'm sure this has made you even more skilled than earlier."

Lucy felt a slight shiver down her spine as she thought about the fact that Erza had called the training they had had up 'till this point 'nothing special', meaning the training from now on probably would be just as tough. Erza could read her little sister's expression and laughed a little, seeing her look of something that could be described as horror. Lucy had never had much of a poker-face.

"Don't worry, training from now on will feel easier as you'll be more used to it."

"Somehow I doubt that", Lucy muttered to which both of her sisters laughed and the three of them sat down while waiting for the current match to end.

The three conversed on light topics until they heard the referee speak up. They were about to stand when they realized that no winner had been called after all. Confused, the three of them looked at each other and a moment later they heard who won the first quarterfinal. The three sisters stood up with their helmets in hand, preparing themselves if they would be called next. Lucy grabbed Juvia's hand and the elder sister clutched the hand gently as she gave an encouraging smile to her younger sister.

"Next up is Ezra Titan and Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki", they seemed to have a bit of trouble pronouncing Erza's opponent's name correctly.

"Good luck, Erza", Lucy said cheerfully to her sister. "Erza…?"

\- Of all people, why him?

Erza was not someone who easily felt troubled, but there was one person who really got under her skin. She had not noticed his name being called before, so now she was frozen with an expression that could only be described as disgust.

"Erza! You're up, put on your helmet and kick his stinky ass!" Lucy shook her sister lightly, well aware of Erza's feelings for her opponent. He was a wealthy duke who had asked for Erza's hand several times and all of the royal family disliked the man – including the king.

Erza nodded, resolute to do just as her sister had suggested. Putting her helmet back on, Erza pushed the door open and entered the field. Already unsheathing her sword, she calmly noticed that Freed was the referee this time. Generally, Ichiya was a disliked man. The one who might not let their own feelings affect the outcome of their decision making was in fact Freed which made Erza glad he was the referee this time. She wanted to beat Ichiya fair. No, it didn't even have to be fair. She just had to beat him, because there was no way she would marry that man.

"Men! I shall defeat you and then marry _my honey_!"

No, there was no way she would marry that man. Erza had to suppress a shudder of disgust. Not answering Ichiya, she looked at Freed, waiting for his signal so she could defeat Ichiya quickly, hopefully by inflicting him some sort of pain – of course she would not aim to hurt him on purpose but an accident could occur…

"Are the two of you ready? Stick to the rules. Begin."

Erza lunged before Ichiya had a chance to move. Quickly sticking the end of the handle to his chest, she actually managed to dent his armor as she sent him flying. Seemed as if the disgust the man filled her with gave her strength.

"Winner, Ezra Titan", Freed called and Erza blinked in surprise. She looked over at Ichiya and noticed that the man dropped his sword when falling.

How did he make it this far?

Returning to the waiting area, Erza's sisters applauded her.

"That's amazing Erza! You ended the match that quickly, and we're in the quarterfinals! You truly are unbeatable!" Lucy said enthusiastically.

"Erza-nee's amazing!" Juvia agreed whole-heartedly.

"You two could have won just as easily, Ichiya had nothing to do here – he must have had som incredible luck managing to getting this far. I finished it with one punch", Erza shook her head in amazement at how the man had even managed to stay this long.

"Well you're still amazing, none the less!" Lucy smiled and Juvia nodded in agreement.

Erza smiled. "Ready yourselves, you could be next."

And just as Erza had thought, next up was indeed one of her sisters.

"Good luck", Juvia and Erza said to Lucy at the same time.

With slightly shaking hands, Lucy put on her helmet again and entered the field, preparing herself for meeting one of the top eight in the tournament. Waiting in the middle of the court was Laxus, looking extremely bored. However he did look as such most of the time and she figured it had nothing to do with either her nor her opponent, a slender man with a walk that looked like he didn't have a worry in the world.

Stopping in the middle, Lucy noticed that the man wasn't much taller than her, which meant her height wouldn't be too much of a disadvantage in the match.

"Prepare for fight", Laxus said bored and both contestants unsheathed their swords. "Begin."

Lucy was used to fighting those stronger than her. As a woman fighting men, she was bound to be weaker than them and this time was no exception. After all, she had less muscle-mass than a man and besides she hadn't been working out much in her life. But even if she was weaker, she had found a successful way to block her opponents' strikes.

Her arms shook slightly from the effort of blocking the man's sword. They stood close up to each other as Lucy blocked with her sword close to her body, the way she had found most effective.

Suddenly, the man spoke up: "You smell weird."

"Pervert", Lucy shrieked in surprise and jumped back, pushing his sword away from her.

"You sure sound funny too", the man continued in the same easy-going voice. Lucy barely believed her ears.

"Decide whether to fight or talk", she said, trying to make her voice darker.

The man laughed. "That's even weirder", he quickly collected himself. "Fight, I won't let my brother down."

\- I also have someone I don't want to let down, Lucy thought as she jumped sideways to avoid the man's slash.

She was surprised to notice how recklessly he fought. His style was very different from the one Erza had taught her. While Erza said it was better to keep the sword closer to the body in order to have more control, Lucy's opponent now swung his sword in wide movements. Perhaps that gave him more power, but it also left him more unguarded. But if he was to hit her with the sword, swinging it like that, there was a big chance she would drop her own.

* * *

**Hope you liked it, leave a review and let me know if you feel up for it :)**

**To my guest review_ Anon_:**** I'm glad you like the story, thanks a lot for reviewing! ^-^**


	18. Jerza part 18

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

The fact that she was only on defense annoyed her. There was no way she could win if she didn't fight back. Dodging yet another of the man's wild swings, Lucy saw an opening and kicked her opponent as he passed her. He quickly spun around however, but now it was Lucy's turn to be on the offensive.

Taking two quick steps to follow up her kick, Lucy closed the distance between herself and her opponent. She struck with her sword, but he blocked it. Feinting to the right but kicking on the left instead, blocked again. Several times Lucy tried to get another hit in, but he kept blocking her. She was still on the offensive and he on the defensive however, which was to her advantage.

Lucy swung low, but to her surprise he actually jumped over her sword instead of taking a step back and while still in the air he kicked the shoulder of her dominant arm. With the force of the kick, she followed her sword in the direction of the kick and landed heavily on the ground. She didn't let go of her sword and quickly rolled around but before she could get up, she saw that the man held his sword with the point of it to her chest.

"Winner, Natsu Dragbuster", Laxus declared and the man, Natsu, sheathed his sword. He then held his hand out in front of Lucy to help her up.

"For a moment there I thought you would defeat me, I'm still new at this", he said sheepishly.

"Me too", Lucy answered quietly, in a darker voice like earlier. This time he didn't laugh however.

"Oh, really? Good job then, thanks for the match."

"Yes, thanks for the training", Lucy smiled but then realized he couldn't see her face.

They left in two different directions, he back to where he came from and she to exit the arena and to watch her sisters matches, cheering them on.

"Semifinals, huh? Good job, flame brain", Gray told his brother when Natsu arrived back at the waiting area. More of a compliment wouldn't have been expected from the brother.

"Yeah", Natsu grinned. "Let's see if you can get this far too, stripper."

Gray rolled his eyes just as his name was called next. In his hurry to enter the field, he forgot to put his helmet on again.

"You're up Juvia. Good luck", Erza squeezed her sister's hand and Juvia nodded before putting her helmet on and entering the field.

Juvia reached the middle at the same time as her opponent. She had kept her eyes at Gildarts Clive, the referee, to see if he was sober – since his daughter was Cana Alberona, a lovely girl but known for being a heavy drinker, Juvia had suspected that the girl's love for drinking had come from someone and she wouldn't be surprised if the known womanizer Gildarts was the source – but confirming that he didn't seem drunk, she turned her eyes to her opponent, Gray Dragbuster. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw his beautiful face.

\- What is this feeling? Is this what they call love…?

"Ready? Begin", Gildarts said and Juvia quickly unsheathed her sword as if a reflex.

She blocked the strike from Gray's sword. In a countermove, she punched him in the face.

\- Oh no! Juvia hurt him! Juvia didn't mean to, it was a reflex! What should Juvia do?!

However, Gray shook his head and placed a hand on his face. Letting out a sigh, he shook his head.

"Who am I, Natsu? Forgetting my helmet", he muttered as he gripped his sword firmly and readied his stance. It all just took a few seconds, but Juvia could have waited forever, watching him. "I won't lose, I won't disappoint Siegrain!"

He lunged forward and Juvia dodged.

\- I'm sorry my love but Juvia doesn't want to disappoint Erza-nee.

Gray spun around and faced Juvia again, but this time she was first to attack with newfound resolution. She attacked with three quick slashes which Gray all dodged and then he followed up with a wide slash aiming for Juvia's upper body. As he had expected, Juvia dodged it since blocking would have been useless, but as he was about to attack again, Juvia had thought of the same and their swords clashed together. She felt the vibration in her arms from the impact and had to harden the grip of her sword. Even if it was a one hand sword, she gripped it with two in order to not drop it when their swords clashed again and again. The fight didn't seem to be going anywhere as both of them played it more on the safe side. To change things up, Juvia followed up with a kick to his side as their swords clashed again and it did catch him off guard. He lost his balance for a second, but Juvia was unbalanced herself. They regained their balance about at the same time and once again their swords clashed. However, Gray who held his sword at the lower point, pushed his sword upwards. Juvia's sword slipped a bit in her hands, but she didn't drop it. Quickly following up his move, Gray kicked Juvia at the side of her knee causing her leg to automatically fold itself. Having her unbalanced he then slashed at her with his sword. Juvia tried her best to block it but the force in his swing caused her sword to fly over her head and her to fall backwards.

"Watch out!" Gray screamed and gripped her wrist, pulling her towards him instead of having her fall backwards. Juvia glanced over her shoulder and saw how her sword had somehow landed with the blade up, meaning Gray just had saved her life by pulling her in the opposite direction. "Are you alright?"

Juvia was about to thank him for saving her life when she turned her head and found his face close to hers. She realized she was being held in his arms and the last thing she saw before fainting was his beautiful but worried face.

"OI!" Gray called out to Julien as the man went limp in his arms, but no reaction came.

"The winner is Gray Dragbuster!" the referee quickly called out and then turned to the confused Gray. "Seems like he fainted. I'll take care of him."

And before Gray could react, the referee picked Julien up and walked off the court with him, going towards the infirmary. Gray stood grounded to the court in shock for half a minute before he returned to his brother.

"Semi-finals now, huh?" Gray said as he took place next to his brother.

Before Natsu could answer, the voice telling the next match called out.

"Next up: Natsu Dragbuster and Ezra Titan!"

"See you in the finals then", Gray said and held his fist out to his brother.

"You bet", Natsu answered with a grin, fist-bumped his brother and entered the arena once again, pulling his helmet on.

* * *

**A real pain to upload this one - apparently I can't use Microsoft Word anymore :( But I managed to get it up! Hope you liked it, hopefuly the next chapter will be up soon!**

**(Side note: anyone reading the manga who can share my heart-break?!)**

**_To my guest reviews:_**

**_Fireblem: _Thanks a lot for the ideas, but I already have the remaining fights figured out ;) especially the idea of Natsu and Gray being disqualified is hilarious (but they won't fight). I'm glad you like the story and thank you so much for your review!**

_**Fireshifter:**_** I'm glad you liked it, I'm keeping up the work of course and thanks for reviewing! :)**

_**Anonymous 13:**_** Yeah, I'm back again but I know I've been absent for long (I'm so sorry), but no need to worry - everything is fine with me, just had a lot in school and such but now I'm on summer vacation ^-^ I'm sorry I worried you though! That you worried isn't stupid, just really sweet, thank you ^^. That this is one of your favorites makes me so happy! And of course your puppy dog eyes works, next chapter is on it's way! As always, thanks for the review ^-^**


	19. Jerza part 19

_Italic = narrating_

"Speak"

\- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

**Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales**

* * *

**_Jellal and the armor clad princess_**

_Standing left alone in the waiting area, Erza waited impatiently, trying to understand how her sister was doing from the audience. Her tries were in vain as the audience's screams told her nothing._

"Winner, Gray Dragbuster!"

Hearing the voice call out, Erza nodded to herself. Although her sisters had performed magnificently, they had much left to learn. The fact that they had made it as far as they had with so little training was something Erza actually found a bit troubling. Were the swordsmanship in her country so bad that two women with so little practice belonged in the eight best? She wondered if some had chosen not to participate after all. When thinking this, Erza remembered that both Laxus and Freed who were acting as referees also were between eighteen and thirty, meaning they should have entered.

\- Well, I don't really mind them being an exception.

After all, the only one she really had wanted to lure to the tournament was Jellal.

"Next up: Natsu Dragbuster and Ezra Titan!"

Pulling her helmet on, Erza entered the field. She cast a glance upon the stands to see if she could spot her sisters, but she wasn't surprised when she didn't. There were many people standing up on the stands and there were even more than there had been in the beginning of the day – most likely had the audience been growing as participants who'd lost joined. But even if she couldn't see her sisters, she knew she had their support.

Turning her gaze forward, Erza took in her opponent – the one who had beaten Lucy. Not very tall nor very broad – most likely one of the younger participants, around eighteen such as herself. Laxus was the referee this time.

"Stick to the rules", Laxus reminded them. "Get ready", both of them unsheathed their swords. "Begin."

Natsu Dragbuster was the first to attack. Lunging forward, Erza easily dodged by moving back slightly. She was quick to counter but her opponent blocked her. She was just trying him out, seeing how skilled he was, but he seemed to be going full force already. Seeing his style, she couldn't help but to think that he was moving rather sloppy – however, he was quick which meant he wasn't left unguarded for too long. He seemed inexperienced – something about his style reminded her about both of her sisters.

Feeling that she had made a complete analysis, Erza somewhat knew how to defeat the man. Letting Natsu strike first, she dodged the attack by jumping to the side. While doing so, she spun around and kicked him in the back before he had turned around again and was in a position where he could block her. The kick had him stumble forward and she quickly closed the distance between them once again. He turned around while stumbling but he had no chance of blocking Erza's sword. She put the flat side of the blade against his upper body and pushed, having him once again stumble as he already was unbalanced. Even though he barely stood, he still tried to swing the sword in order to have her back off. But Erza was far too skilled for such a move and used the moment to unarm him as he had to split his concentration between the sword and regaining his balance.

"Winner – Ezra Titan!"

Erza reached her hand out to Natsu who was sitting on the ground, fallen over. He grabbed it and pulled himself up.

"Good luck in the final", he said cheerfully and Erza bowed as an answer.

He exited the arena and she returned to the waiting area, preparing herself for the final. As she entered the waiting area, she heard the name of the other semi-finalists.

"Gray Dragbuster and Siegrain Fernandez."

Siegrain felt as if he was cheating when he met Gray in the middle of the field. He had been there to train Gray and had watched his progress, whereas Gray hadn't seen Siegrain fight even once – Gray didn't even know he was facing his brother. Siegrain figured whether he should lose on purpose, but then he imagined how things would be at home and how much Gray would tease Natsu. And if either of them found out he was the one who had fought them and lost so easily all hell would break loose. No, he needed to try to win and if Gray was better than him, then Gray would win.

The green-haired referee was waiting for them in the middle.

"Prepare for battle", the participants unsheathed their swords. "Begin."

However, neither of the fighters attacked. Siegrain waited for Gray since he already knew his brother's weak points. But Gray was one to play it safe and thus both of them stood in defensive position.

Figuring his brother probably wouldn't attack first, Siegrain went for an easy, straight on attack which Gray could easily block – just to get them both started. Gray followed up by slashing with his sword and the two of them clashed over and over, getting into a sort of rhythm. Siegrain could win by doing a maneuver and changing the pace in a way that Gray wouldn't see coming but he didn't feel right doing so. And instead they clashed their swords – the one to lose concentration first would be at a disadvantage.

And then the moment came, where Gray was just a bit late and blocked instead of attacking like earlier. After so many fights, the fighting had become something Siegrain didn't have to think about. By now his body moved on its own. As Gray blocked Siegrain's sword once again, Siegrain quickly closed the distance between himself and his brother. Gray had barely noticed Siegrain closing in on him before getting a fist in his face.

Taking a step back, Gray then received a kick to the back of his knee; just as he himself had done to Julien Titan, and his knee folded automatically. Looking up at his opponent, thinking that he would surely block the next attack, Gray received a hit in the back – without his notice, Siegrain had moved to his back.

Holding his sword to the neck of his brother, Siegrain realized he had won.

"And the winner is Siegrain Fernandez!"

Siegrain sheathed his sword, feeling guilty to have beaten his brother – he had trained him, and Gray did not even know he had fought his own teacher. However, Gray rolled around and pulled off his helmet. Siegrain helped his brother up and Gray shook his hand.

"You got the better of me. Now win so I have a better excuse than my brother."

Siegrain squeezed Gray's hand and bowed as if telling him he would do his best. Gray then left the fighter's grounds and Siegrain was left with the blonde referee. Another voice, the one telling the rules, echoed in the arena as the crowd's clapping had died out.

"Coming up is the finale between Siegrain Fernandez", the voice had to wait for Siegrain's fans to quiet down, "and Ezra Titan." Again the referee had to wait for the crowd to go silent. "But before that, there'll be a short break where the two finalists will get some rest."

And returning to the waiting area, Siegrain had a little to eat and drink (this had been available for the contestants all along). He laid down on a bench, waiting for his final match to begin, slightly shocked of how he managed to get so far. Just when had he ever learned to fight?

A flash of scarlet and metal being reflected in sunlight popped into his mind, but disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. Siegrain shook his head, focusing upon the next match.

"If Siegrain had seen your fight, he'd been proud."

As soon as Gray arrived in the spectator's booths he heard Natsu's voice. He smiled at his brother, and it was a rare sight as it wasn't a malicious grin nor a taunting smirk.

"That guy sure got the better of me", was all Gray answered before making his way towards the infirmary.

"Oi, you're not going to watch the finals?" Natsu caught up to him.

"Of course I will, idiot, I'm just going to check up on the guy I fought in the semifinals."

"Why? What happened?"

"I'm not quite sure", Gray muttered.


	20. Jerza part 20

_Gray and Natsu arrived at the infirmary, trying to spot the man that Gray had been fighting earlier, but the only ones there were two girls. This wasn´t anything the two boys thought about for a long time, which was a bit strange since the infirmary was there only for the tournament and the tournament was for the men in the kingdom._

_But no one had ever claimed those two to be the sharpest knives in the box._

"Excuse me", a familiar voice said and Lucy looked up from Juvia´s peaceful face. In the infirmary were two young men standing, one with pink hair and one with black. Both were very handsome, but the pink haired one caught Lucy´s attention just a tad bit more.

"Yes?"

"We´re looking for my opponent, he fainted during our match and I want to make sure he´s okay", the dark-haired one said, the one who hadn´t spoken before.

"I think my sister and I are the only ones here except you two", Lucy said, and by talking she made sure the men didn´t hear her sister whisper 'Gray-sama' in her sleep.

"Oh, okay. Thanks for the help anyways", the dark haired man was about to turn away to leave but then stopped. "Wait, why are you wearing armor?"

"Hey, you´re the one I fought earlier!"

Lucy jumped at the sudden voice behind her. Pink Hair had snuck up behind her when she was focusing on the dark-haired one.

"Fought? That´s ridiculous, a girl like me, fighting?" Lucy tried to flick his comment away. "And even if I had been able to fight, why would I participate in the tournament? It's for deciding the next king, I would gain nothing from winning."

"I recognize your smell."

"Stop being such a pervert!" Lucy shrieked.

"Definitely the same person", Pink Hair said and looked at his friend.

"So is this my opponent? The Julien-guy?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Obviously this is no guy but my sister, Juvia."

"She´s also wearing armor", the dark-haired male said as he walked up closer.

Lucy was about to say something when Juvia stirred and opened her eyes.

"Lucy?"

"Finally awake?" Lucy smiled down at her.

"What happened?"

"You tell me, you´re the one who fainted."

"So this is my opponent!" the dark-haired cut in before Juvia got to say something.

Juvia looked to the side and it seemed like she was going to faint again.

"Are you alright, miss?" the dark-haired man asked with his brows furrowed.

"She´s fine so you can leave now", Lucy said in a calm voice, the one she most often used around in the castle when she asked the servants for something. It wasn´t that Lucy didn´t like the dark-haired man – she did not know him after all, but he had made Juvia faint earlier and besides that Lucy didn't like that he acted so friendly all of a sudden. She was a bit protective when it came to family. They mattered the most to her.

"I'd still love to get something of an explanation as to what happened", the dark-haired man answered and sat down on the opposing bed. Lucy tried her best to give him a subtle glare – she tried to make him uncomfortable and leave. He didn't however, but he did turn to her. "I'm sorry, how rude of me. I'm Gray Dragbuster, and that's my brother, Natsu."

Lucy turned her head to look at Natsu, apparently the one she had fought. Earlier she had thought of his walk as worry-less, but everything about him sent out this vibe of carelessness; he seemed to be extremely unconcerned.

"I'm Lucy, and this is my sister Juvia. We joined in the tournament on the orders of our", Lucy wondered whether she should refer to her sister, which was the truth, or her brother, but then she figured the truth would be revealed after this match after all, "older sister."

"So there's another girl who has participated?" Gray asked and Lucy nodded.

"Are all of you interested in becoming the king?" Natsu asked and Lucy couldn't help but to laugh.

"They can't be king as they are women, moron!"

"Well why did they participate if not to rule the kingdom, idiot!"

Gray snorted and tried to come up with an answer, but closed his mouth and turned to the sisters. "That's a good question. Why did you join?"

"Because our sister told us too", Lucy repeated.

"Erza-nee thought it would be nice practice", Juvia helpfully filled in.

"Why would you need to practice?" Natsu asked confused.

"Because we just started learning how to fight", Lucy answered.

"And why did you begin learning that?" Gray asked.

"Because mama wanted Erza-nee to teach Lucy and Juvia."

The brothers looked at each other and then shrugged. They seemed to decide that there was no point to further questions. But they didn't leave. Gray wondered once again if Juvia could explain what happened earlier, but all Juvia could do was blush and shake her head. To Lucy´s surprise, Natsu then asked her about their match and why she had swung low.

"I expected you to step back, most wouldn't jump."

"Why wouldn't they?" Natsu seemed seriously surprised.

"Because that makes you an easier target; you have less force in the air and you'll be unbalanced when you land", Juvia answered. Both men looked at her.

"Really?" Natsu asked at the same time as Gray asked "Who told you that?"

"Our older sister", Lucy answered. She felt as if it was better not to tell Erza´s name to them – a woman who fought with swords? Most people in the kingdom would immediately put two and two together and figure out who they were. And Lucy enjoyed the feeling of being normal.

"Is she any good then?" Gray asked. "That tip does seem to be true after all."

"She's the best", Lucy smiled and Juvia nodded excitedly. "That's why she's in the final."

"She's in the final?" Natsu asked with wide eyes. "That's got to be one scary woman!"

The sisters laughed. "I suppose you could say that. But she is super sweet", Lucy smiled.

"Will she win?" Gray asked curiously.

"Of course!" Lucy exclaimed. "There's no way she'll lose."

The group of four continued talking about the tournament and later about more trivial things as well. Lucy discovered that she really enjoyed the time they spent together. Which was longer than she had thought as they suddenly heard the final was about to start. Natsu and Gray wanted to watch it from the stands, but Lucy said she and Juvia had to stay in there – Juvia wasn't well enough to leave. That was a lie, but the two of them could not go out and stand among the public. Besides, their grandfather waited for them.

"We'll see you some other time", Natsu smiled brightly and Lucy felt her chest tighten a bit. If she had been a normal girl they probably could, but since she wasn't she wondered whether she could see him and Gray again.

\- Even if I could it wouldn't be the same. Next time, I'll be Princess Lucy and not just Lucy.

"Yeah, nice meeting you", Juvia smiled and the boys smiled at them before leaving. Both girls smiled back but as soon as the brothers had left the infirmary, Lucy's smiled faltered. She glanced at her sister and saw that Juvia had stopped smiling too.

"Let's go, Gramps is waiting", Lucy smiled kindly and rose from the bed. Juvia joined her seconds later and together they headed to the king's side to watch their sister fight.

Erza breathed out one last time before putting her helmet on. If she lost, this would be her future husband. That's what she promised her grandfather.

\- If I win and host a ball, Jellal might make it.

She knew it was ridiculous. Why would he show up at a ball and not the tournament? But maybe he couldn't make it. Maybe he was away. And he would be back in time to go to the ball.

\- Where would he go? And with whom? He has no family, not anymore. If he did, we would have known where to find him.

She shook her head to rid the negative thoughts. It didn't matter; there was a small chance he could show up to a ball and she was going to take it. Or at least give it her everything to take the chance. With new-found resolution she entered the grounds and walked to the center of the court. Both Freed and Laxus stood in the middle. She didn't find to referees necessary since the rules were quite simple and obvious – she had come up with them after all. But perhaps they felt that it was important and if that was the case, she'd let them do as they liked.

Her opponent arrived at the same time as she did. She measured him up, trying to figure out as much as she could without fighting. He was of average length and not very broad-shouldered (not when compared to men such as Jura Nekis and Elfman Strauss). None of his features were visible beneath the armor, like in her own case, but something about his posture and walk sent out a vibe of seriousness.

But nothing that would help her beat him.


	21. Jerza part 21

_The final is about to begin and both our heroes are determined to win. Probably._

As Siegrain walked out to start the match that was either his last or second to last it finally hit him. He could be the next king! He might end up marrying the oldest of the three princesses; one who he had never seen before and didn't know. Siegrain hadn't imagined he would marry someone he didn't know. He hadn't exactly thought much of marriage at all, but never had he expected it to be like this. And of all the people he could marry in the kingdom whom he didn't know, he would be offered the hand of the future queen, meaning he would be the next king.

Did he really want to take that responsibility?

He was just a nobody, he didn't know anything about ruling a country. The only things he was good at was cleaning, cooking and keeping his brothers from fighting. Taking out the last part, he was more befitted to work as a servant in the castle.

As Siegrain was making his way to the referees and the opponent, thoughts of what winning really meant kept spinning around in his head. Perhaps he was better of losing.

Coming to a stop, Siegrain took his opponent in. He was very short, shorter than Siegrain himself and Siegrain didn't consider himself to be tall. Seemed to be slightly below average in size; not just length but his broadness as well. Siegrain guessed the male had to be very quick and skilled since he was most likely lacking in strength.

"Get ready", the blonde referee spoke up immediately upon their arrival and Siegrain couldn't help but thinking he still hadn't made up his mind. But he mimicked Ezra Titan's moves by unsheathing his sword and taking his stance. Both referees backed away before the other one, the one who hadn't spoken yet, called for them to begin.

His opponent wasted no time but lashed out on him right away with incredible speed. However, Siegrain wasn't slow himself and blocked him efficiently. But he was aware he was on the defensive – he was still indecisive.

Trying to figure out what was the right decision while trying to concentrate on defending himself turned out to be harder than he expected. And not a very wise idea either.

As he was going to flick his opponent's sword away, he miscalculated and hit Ezra's sword-wielding arm. The sound of his sword slicing a gap in Ezra's armor was deafening and blood tainted his sword. Horrified he stared at the wound.

A moment of silence followed were everyone awaited what would happen.

"Referee´s call: no rule break, the wound is decided to be unintentional. The fight continues if both participants are capable."

Siegrain waited for his opponent to make a move. Could he still fight with a wound in his arm? To Siegrain's surprise, Ezra moved his sword to the other hand, the unwounded arm, and raised the sword. Siegrain couldn't help feeling a grin spreading across his face as it finally hit him what a match he had to look forward to. This wasn't just anyone in the tournament, and not one of his brothers, but a total stranger whom clearly was a skilled swordsman. And realizing this filled his chest with excitement. He had no idea where this feeling had come from but during the whole tournament he had experienced these strange feelings about fighting – excitement, pride and nostalgia. He had discovered that he was surprisingly good at something he hadn't known he was capable of and the thought thrilled him.

He had known he must have had a life before he started living with the Dragbuster's, but during the last few weeks he had come across something from it which certainly was something special. Weird, sure. But also a pleasant surprise – to learn something more about himself and his identity, even if it still was a big mystery.

This time Siegrain was the first to attack. Not on full strength, he wanted to test his opponent's skills a bit more before going full force. But now he had decided – he wanted to try and win this fight. If he changed his mind about the whole king business, he could always lose against the princess on purpose.

As expected his opponent was quick to block and try an attack of his own, but Siegrain counter-attacked. They kept going back and forth, none of them gaining an advantage. Ezra feinted a blow with his sword at one side while charging a kick on the other. Siegrain easily saw through the maneuver and brushed his opponent's sword away at the same time as he moved in closer to Ezra. Siegrain tried to elbow Ezra in the body, hoping to throw him completely off balance but Ezra surprised him by jumping backwards on the foot still standing on solid ground. The jump itself was completely breath-taking – starting in the way Ezra somehow managed to jump backwards after pushing so much force forward, to the length he got on just one leg – not forgetting how graceful the jump looked; more befitting in a ballet than a swords fight – finishing with the fact that Ezra landed in complete balance.

However, Siegrain had no breath to be taken away as he was panting for air. This was the hardest fight he had had so far and he was pleased to have noticed that Ezra was about as much in lack of air as he himself was.

Both of them charged in for another attack and soon they were back to the same pattern with none of them gaining an advantage. Occasionally one of them tried to break the pattern by doing something unexpected, one move more risky than the previous, but the two of them were so skilled that it didn't make a difference.

And in the midst of it all, Siegrain realized he would have to lose. Because when the clock struck five o'clock, his sword and armor would disappear. Even if they didn't enhance his fighting skills, he would be accused of cheating, obviously. Maybe they would even throw him in prison or have him executed or tortured until he revealed how he could possibly have done it.

The time had seemed to slow down as Siegrain was realizing all this. His opponent had kicked off the ground and was now aiming a hard kick towards his wrist and this would be his chance to fake a loss. His timing was a bit off – he dropped the sword just before the foot hit his wrist, but no one would notice.

The arena – which had gone silent for a moment – exploded with cheers for the winner of the finals.

"Good luck", Siegrain said before he quickly scurried away from the tournament grounds. He had no idea how much the clock was, but he had to be home before five or his horse would return back and he wouldn't be able to get home.

* * *

**The awaited final between our two heroes! I hope you're not too disappointed. I would love to know what you think so if you have time and energy, please leave a review! **

**We are very close to the ending now...**


	22. Jerza part 22

**And we have arrived at the end of the first story; since it is the finale, the chapter is extra long (twice or thrice as long as usual, woops)**

* * *

"Good luck", Siegrain Fernandez said and left the arena before Erza was given a chance to answer.

"Wait!" her plea was drowned in the noise from the crowd. She attempted to follow him, but her unwounded arm was grabbed by Freed and raised into the air, still grasping the sword tightly.

"And here he is – the winner of the tournament and the challenger; the candidate to being the future king – Ezra Titan!" Freed let go of her hand and Erza sheathed her sword.

The crowd was cheering her on, making it feel as if the whole arena was shaking. But when Erza pulled her helmet off the whole crowd went silent. Erza looked up to the stands where the people – her people - awaited. Nothing broke the silence, not even the sound of wind blowing. And Erza had no trouble making her voice carry to all of the spectators.

"Any of you who know of the man called Siegrain Fernandez – report to closest guard. There will be a re-match between the two of us!"

She spun on her heel and exited, planning on finding her grandfather immediately. She knew this would trouble him, but she was determined to have an honest match with the man. They had been evenly matched and then he had given up. She could have taken the win, hoping to find Jellal at the ball instead. But her sense of justice won in this case. The man she had fought had been evenly matched with her and then, out of nowhere he had had a change of mind. She had to admit, she was curious to his reasoning. Going all the way to the final and then giving up in the beginning – sure, that wouldn't have surprised her. She expected there to be a few who probably didn't want the responsibility which would come with the position of king. He had obviously been hesitant in the beginning of the match. But after he cut her in the arm, his whole aura had changed. To her, his determination had been obvious from that point forward. Well, until he dropped his sword of course.

"Erza, what are you thinking?!" she heard him before she saw him. Her grandfather may be small, but when he was angry he had the presence of a ten meter high giant. "We said to hold _one_ tournament and then you promised me a ball!"

"I know and I am sorry", Erza bowed down in front of her grandfather, but spoke loud and clearly. "However, I could not accept such a win – at least not without speaking with the man first. He lost on purpose, gramps. He dropped the sword before my kick hit him. If he won't accept a re-match, I at least need to know what happened."

"Maybe the man simply didn't wish to win Erza", King Makarov had calmed down and gently tried to reason with his granddaughter.

"That thought occurred to me as well", Erza answered and started pacing back and forth. "But then I dismissed it…" she continued to voice her thoughts out loud, but Makarov stopped listening. He did understand that he had no chance in changing her mind though.

_And two weeks passed in the blink of an eye, for all except Erza who felt as if each day passed by twice as slowly as normally. Several young men had claimed to be Siegrain Fernandez and Erza agreed to meet with all of them. However, none of them were him and she was quick to realize it. Some claimed to simply have lost because she had surprised them, and as soon as those words passed their lips, Erza left. Some were dismissed before she even spoke to them because of their physical features being off. A few of them, however, got to the point where Erza actually asked for a re-match. But none of them were Siegrain Fernandez either, Erza concluded, because she defeated them faster than she had defeated Ichiya in the tournament and the one she was looking for was an equal match for her. King Makarov thought Erza would finally agree to have a ball, now that she knew the man himself wasn't eager to be found. But Erza would have none of that._

"I will visit every house in this kingdom in search for him before I give in to the idea of a ball!" she exclaimed and stormed off before her grandfather managed to say another word.

Lucy, Juvia and the king was left standing in awe.

"I think this might have become an obsession by this point", Lucy said quietly and received no answer. Then she turned to the king with a big smile on her lips. "Consider yourself lucky, gramps – Erza is _finally _interested in a man!"

And she spun on her heel, following Erza, skipping down the corridor. Juvia was left horrified at her sisters' rude and daring behavior – it did not matter that the king was their grandfather, he was still the king!

_But as Erza had decided, she was allowed to visit every household in the kingdom – in company of a few soldiers. She was capable of taking care of herself, but she was the future queen after all. To her utter dismay, her sisters insisted on coming with her and her grandfather supported their wish which led them all to leaving the castle until they either found Siegrain Fernandez or every house in all of the kingdom had been honored with the presence of royalty._

"This is a lot more boring than I expected", Lucy complained on the second day.

"Suit yourself, you wanted to come", Erza answered.

"You're so cold, Erza! Show some compassion! I almost never get to leave the castle – I thought it was going to be an adventure."

Erza shook her head, but a small smile was playing on her lips which she knew had been Lucy's intention. The two days they had spent since leaving the castle was very similar to the two days that had followed the tournament – some had claimed to be Siegrain Fernandez, but none of them had been him. However, most just said they hadn't heard the name before the tournament. No one knew where he might be.

"I hope something more interesting will happen tomorrow", Lucy sighed and threw herself onto her bed for the night.

"We'll get further from the castle tomorrow so the scenery will at least change a bit", Erza said and Lucy nodded thoughtfully. The girls were still close to the castle, but they were staying at an inn and hadn't returned since they left. There was a reason for this even if it wouldn't take them long to ride back at the end of the day, and that was simply that they had a system. They had finished checking the capital of the kingdom, so currently they were staying at an inn by the outskirts of town.

\- I wish you would make it easier to find you, Siegrain. I sincerely hope you're not avoiding me.

_The young man Erza so desperately was looking for wasn't avoiding her nor hiding. Well, not exactly at least._

"I really wish you could have been there, Siegrain!" Natsu exclaimed excitedly and Siegrain let out a small sigh that his brothers either would perceive as a confirmation that Siegrain too wished that, or a sign that he was growing tired of the never-ending talk about the tournament. "I mean, that final! And I can't believe that I actually fought Titania!"

Siegrain smiled weakly and shook his head. "It was probably for the best that I wasn't there, don't you think? What if I had beaten you before you got to the semi-final?" he said it jokingly and Natsu was quick to follow his lead.

"Huh?!" frowning angrily, Natsu straightend his back and pushed his chest out. "I'd like to see you try! Just you wait, I'll beat both you and the princess and then you'll all acknowledge my true strength!"

Siegrain laughed while Gray just sighed. "Yeah, yeah, sure, you, a complete novice, will manage to beat someone who's been training her whole life."

Natsu grinned. "Just you wait, I'll train hard and beat her."

"How about making sure you're actually better than her sisters before that?"

"What was that, I won, didn't I?" Natsu spat and raised his fist towards Gray.

Before they could start for real, Siegrain stopped them. "Quit it, both of you. Natsu, I'm sure you'll improve if you keep up with training. And Gray, just because you made your opponent faint it doesn't mean that you're any better. Wasn't it a close fight between the two of you too?"

Gray looked away, seemingly embarrassed. He muttered something Siegrain couldn't hear and Natsu looked smug. "Lovesick, are we?"

"What?!" Gray snapped at him.

"Yeah, you go around looking miserable all the time nowadays", Natsu teased.

"So do you", Siegrain calmly pointed out while rising from the table and starting to do the dishes.

"I'm just disappointed I didn't get to fight Titania", Natsu huffed and didn't see Siegrain's knowing smile since he was standing with his back to his brothers.

\- So you say, but the truth is that more than anything, you've kept talking about princess Lucy since you came home.

Siegrain's smile soon faltered however, when he thought about the fact that his brothers probably wouldn't meet them again. The Dragbuster's was neither royalty nor nobles and only people of such met royalty, especially the soon-to-be queen and her sisters. The fact that his brothers had talked to them, let alone even seen them was extraordinary for people like themselves. If they had been poor they might even have a greater chance of spotting the royal family again - their Kingdom had been offering shelter and the likes to poor for decades, but they were wealthy enough to never have a reason to visit those help-centers. Mr Dragbuster had been some sort of merchant (Siegrain had never met him since he'd died a few years before Siegrain had joined the Dragbusters) and had left a small fortune to his family.

Finishing the dishes, Siegrain continued his chores around the house.

Following day, Erza and her company left the capital early, arriving at the first home outside of the capital two hours later. The owner of the house was very surprised to see them. He was a middle-aged or a bit older and had no sons so he hadn't even heard of the tournament in the first place. He also said he did not know anyone by the name "Fernandez", but he knew of a young man by the name Siegrain. He met the boy a few years ago and said that the family which the boy had been with a few years ago lived a few kilometers down the same lane. It also happened to be his closest neighbor. Between the capital and nearest village a few houses lined the main road, although for some they would have to leave the main road. Erza thanked the man for the directions and they headed for the next home.

While Erza knew the kingdom better than her sisters, the truth was that there still was so much she didn't know. Therefor she was extra thankful for the directions the older man had given. She doubted they would get lost, but it didn't hurt to know where they were going. The day was nearing noon when they spotted the side-tracked road which would lead to the next house along the lane. The distance had been greater than she first had thought, so she was afraid they had missed the entry at first.

When loud knocking echoed through their home, Siegrain immediately rose from his position of cleaning the floor on the second floor to open it, but before he had taken even a step, Mrs Dragbuster called out to him to continue with what he was doing while she opened and then begin to cook lunch.

The woman who opened the door had obviously been beautiful when younger; her ebony black hair tied into a bun still shone of health and her light green eyes had a piercing gaze, seemingly to not miss details. She curtseyed as soon as she laid eyes on them.

Erza gestured for her to rise – while she thought it was important to pay respect to others, she still didn't like it when people bowed towards her.

"Your highness", the woman said and smiled kindly. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Erza smiled kindly. "Since you immideatly recognize me, I take it you were at the tournament."

"Oh yes, my two sons entered."

"Then perhaps you've heard that I'm currently looking for the last opponent I faced, Siegrain Fernandez?"

Erza was sure the woman's eye twitched at the name, however she feigned ignorance. "I have heard so, but I'm afraid I cannot be of any help."

Erza nodded thoughtfully. "Lately it has crossed my mind that it might be a faked name. You don't happen to know anyone who goes by either 'Siegrain' or 'Fernandez', I suppose?"

"I'm afraid not, your highness. Otherwise I would have told you everything I knew", the woman once again curtseyed.

"I see", Erza said once again and was quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry for pressing this matter, but it's of great importance that I find this man."

"I completely understand, your highness. However, if I do find someone I'll send them towards the capital right away."

Erza narrowed her eyes. "There's just one last thing I'd like to clear out before we take our leave. You see, your closest neighbor told me something interesting…"

Erza didn't get to finish her sentence as a scream of rage and a loud bang interrupted her. The woman standing in the door spun around and the royal company also stared into the room. By the stairs laid a young man sprawled, cursing.

"Gray, what are you doing?" the woman, most likely his mother, called out but the young man didn't answer as he rolled over on his back and held his wrist.

"It seems he has injured himself", Erza said and pushed through the door followed by her sisters. "Are you alright, young man?"

The man looked up in surprise at the sound of her voice, but he wasn't looking at her but someone who was behind her. "Juvia", he said quietly and then he suddenly widened his eyes. He bowed which made her sisters laugh as it simply looked ridiculous in his sitting position. Glancing at her sisters, especially Juvia, the reason why they had come with her on the journey became a bit more clear.

"Juvia, will you tend to his injury?" she asked her sister, but Juvia knew it more or less was an order. Her sister nodded and kneeled next to the man, a blush clearly visible on both of their faces.

"Gray, was it?" Erza asked and received a nod from the man. "Would you mind telling us what just happened? My sister seems to be a bit worried…"

Gray frowned and glared towards the stairs. "That idiot pushed me."

_Let's rewind a few minutes and see what happened._

The two brothers stood at the top of the stairs, overhearing their mothers conversation with the guests.

"…You don't happen to know anyone who goes by the name 'Siegrain' or 'Fernandez', I suppose?"

"I'm afraid not…"

Natsu frowned at his mother's words and looked at Gray. "She's clearly lying, I mean, Siegrain is up here right now."

Gray scratched the back of his head. "There's probably a reason why she says she doesn't know about him."

"Yeah, like she wants to keep him around and do house-chores forever. I'd love for Siegrain to stay too, but what if they know where he comes from or something? We can't decide for him whether or not he should talk with them at least", Natsu scowled.

While Gray couldn't deny the truth in his words, he shook his head. "No, mom probably only have Siegrain's best in mind."

"Yeah because she's been so fond of him lately", Natsu said sarcastically. "I'm going to get him."

"No you won't!" Gray snarled and grabbed his arm. "Mom will explain later if we ask, there is no need for us to get involved."

"Oh but there is!"

And this verbal fight continued for a while in snarling voices before it turned physical when Natsu threw a punch towards Gray's face in order to get him to let go of his grip around Natsu's wrist. The punch hit its target and Gray let go, falling down the stairs. Natsu looked at his brother mortified for a second or so before deciding that Gray was too thick-headed to take any damage from it.

_And then Gray was found by the princesses who treated both his wrist which he injured in the fall and the black-eye that started to bloom on his face. Or well, Juvia wanted to, but there wasn't really anything she could do._

"Mom, I've brought Siegrain like you asked me to", Erza looked up toward the stairs, surprised by the sudden voice calling out. She thought the voice was somewhat familiar and seeing the pink haired-man she also thought she recognized his way of moving. At the sight of them, a grin appeared on his face. "Lucy!"

Lucy was standing next to Erza, so Erza saw the big smile that instantly lit her sister's face up as she saw the man. "Good to see you again, Natsu."

In the corner of her eye, a familiar shade of blue appeared. Whipping her head in the direction of the stairs she stared in disbelief. The man emerging the stairs had his face turned down, but could it be?

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the man looked up. His eyes widened as he saw them and tears welled up in Erza's eyes as she saw the familiar brown eyes and scarlet red tattoo. "Jellal!"

She rushed forward and threw her arms around him, hugging him hard. "I can't believe it's really you!"

His arms slowly rose and returned the embrace. "Erza…" he whispered.

"I knew it", she sobbed softly. "I knew you were alive somewhere!" She withdrew a little so she could look at his face and he smiled at her, the most beautiful smile in the whole world which made her heart skip a beat. She placed a hand on either side of his face and smiled back. He raised his hand and stroke her tears away. "What happened?"

\- Why didn't you come look for me?

He shook his head. "I don't know. I don't remember anything. Until just now when I saw you…" he frowned in confusion and Erza gently brushed his forehead to smooth out the frown.

_As the two childhood friends reunited, the two brothers stood confused and watched the scene._

"Who's Jellal?" Natsu whispered to Gray but Lucy answered him.

"He's standing right there, silly. The son of Lord and Lady Fernandez."

"He's nobility?!" Gray asked shocked and Juvia nodded.

"Jellal-san was at the castle almost every day", Juvia said, a smile on her lips as she watched her sister's reunion with her love. "They practiced together every time he came, trained for hours sometimes."

"That does explain his talent with a sword", Gray commented and Natsu nodded.

"He's the only one who has defeated Erza", Lucy added. "She never said it but…"

"Erza-nee held the tournament in order to find him", Juvia finished. "They've been in love since… well…" she hesitated.

"Since they met for the first time", Lucy continued, giving Juvia a small push so she staggered into Gray. Gray grabbed her by the shoulders to steady her and although he let go, they remained standing as close.

"Jellal, will you come back with me? I may be able to help you remember."

He smiled at her. "I don't need to remember. I know already", he blushed slightly. "I will never leave you again, Erza."

Erza blushed and smiled, about to answer him when a blood curling scream broke through the pleasant atmosphere. Mrs Dragneel was blocking the door.

"NO! You will not go back to _him_! I won't let you leave me too!"

"Mom, what are you talking about?" Gray questioned worriedly. Juvia carefully snug her hand into his and squeezed it gently.

"I won't allow that you go back to your father!" she sobbed.

"Lord Fernandez is dead, madame", said Lucy carefully.

"Oh, he's dead, is he? _Again_?"

"He truly has passed away", Erza said calmly. "And Lady Fernandez as well. They both died in the same storm as Jellal went missing."

"We all attended the funeral", Juvia added.

Her sobbing came to an abrupt stop, but tears continued to stream down her cheeks. "He truly is..? He died…? And I never got to tell him…" she whispered, sounding broken.

"Mom, please… what do you mean?" Natsu frowned in confusion and Lucy placed a hand on his arm, squeezing it to show her support for her friend.

"Your father…" she whispered but they had no trouble hearing her in the silence as they all waited for her answer to their questions. "You don't remember him, he died when you were babies. Or at least, I _thought_ he died. But then you came", she looked at Jellal, "and you have his eyes and the tattoo given at the age of six… it took me a while to realize it. I thought it might be a coincidence, but you remind me so much of him… you're way of speaking, moving… I cried for him for days! I believed them when they said... and I wasn't allowed to attend a funeral, and I was never given a chance to say good-bye – they said they buried him in an unmarked grave in the forest because no one should see the body…" she started sobbing hysterically. "And when I realized… I'm so sorry! I'm so, so sorry!"

Jellal released his grip on Erza and walked over to the woman who was crying hysterically. He pulled her into his arms. "It's alright, I won't leave you. I forgive you, mom."

And Mrs Dragbuster started crying even more and clung to her adoptive son whom she had mistreated for so long and thought that he had to be the kindest man in the whole world to forgive someone like her.

"You've always taken care of me mom. Without you, I wouldn't be here. Thank you."

She sobbed hard. "I do love you, I know you might not believe me, but I…"

He hushed her gently. "I love you too."

The brothers looked at their mother finally reconciling with their brother with big smiles on their faces. Natsu suddenly turned to Lucy and hugged her to let out some of his excitement, laughing happily as he would no longer have to stand conflicted between them. Gray shook his head at his little brother's silly antics, but he was also so very happy that he barely knew how to contain himself. He looked at the girl who was holding his hand and she smiled back at him, squeezing his hand and he squeezed it back.

And Erza watched her beloved, pride making her chest swell because he was such a forgiving and loving person. The reconciliation made tears sting in her eyes, tears of joy at witnessing such a beautiful scene.

_And that is the story of how the lost boy Jellal found his armor clad princess. The pair ruled the kingdom fairly and were known for being kind and forgiving – as long as the circumstances allowed it. And the two younger sisters of the queen soon followed in their sister's footsteps, overlooking the part about ruling a kingdom. They all lived happily until the day their time was up and the kingdom was taken over by the next, well-raised and just generation._

* * *

**There you have it - the end of _Jellal and the armor clad princess_. The next story (which I have finally have a plan for) is called _Sleeping Dragon_, but I will not reveal more than that. I'll post the first chapter in a few weeks, but I want to get ahead a little before I start posting it so I won't leave you hanging for too long.**

**To all of you who've read this story, followed the progress and withstood my irregular updating - thank you so much. To all of you who've reviewed; again, thank you sooo much!**

**And to all of you who might leave because the next story might not be what you're into - thank you for reading this one.**

**Lots of love to all of you and I'll be back, promise!**


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